PETALING JAYA: Schools in several states will be closed again due to the worsening haze.
The Education Ministry said that schools in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Negri Sembilan and several parts of Sarawak will be closed on Monday.
The schools affected in Sarawak are located in Kuching, Sri Aman and Kota Semarahan.
On Sunday, the Ministry said in a statement that the closure was because the Air Pollutant Index (API) readings in these areas reached unhealthy and very unhealthy levels.
As of 11am Sunday, the API readings for Port Klang was 252, Shah Alam (281), Petaling Jaya (232), Putrajaya (206) and Batu Muda (256).
In Sarawak, Sri Aman recorded an API reading of 188, Kuching (139) and Samarahan (145).
Earlier, Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan said an announcement would be made whether schools need to be closed.
He said Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid had requested the ministry to monitor the haze situation.
“YBDS @MahdzirKhalid have requested @KemPendidikan to make an early announcement with regards to the current haze situation. Will update soon,” Kamalanathan had tweeted Sunday morning.
On Sept 15, schools in Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Malacca were closed after API readings in some of the areas rose to nearly 200.
An API reading of between 0 and 50 is considered good, 51 to 100 (moderate), 101 to 200 (unhealthy), 201 to 300 (very unhealthy), and 301 and above (hazardous).
The haze in Malaysia is caused by open burning and forest fires in Indonesia.
