A total of 647 schools across Sarawak will be closed for five days from September 7 to 11 as hazardous haze conditions show little sign of improving.
Sarawak Education director Omar Mahli said the closure involves 563 primary and 84 secondary schools across 12 districts.
The affected schools are under the Kuching, Padawan, Bau, Lundu, Samarahan, Simunjan, Serian, Sri Aman, Lubok Antu, Kanowit, Julau and Maradong district education offices.
Schools in other districts will continue operating as normal.
Omar said the decision was made following a meeting and briefing with the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) on the latest weather and haze conditions.
“Based on our monitoring throughout the school holiday this week, the situation has clearly not changed much,” he said at a press conference today.
“So we have decided to close schools from September 7 to 11 in the affected districts,” he added.
The latest air quality readings showed the severity of the situation, with Serian recording a hazardous API of 514 and Kuching 313 as of 4pm, according to the Environmental Quality Management System.
