Haze: All schools to reopen Friday except for northern states

PETALING JAYA: All schools will reopen on Friday (Oct 23) except for those in the northern region, according to the Education Ministry.   

It said in a statement that the Air Pollutant Index (API) has worsened in Perlis, Perak, Kedah and Penang.

As such, the schools in those states will remain close.  

The Ministry, however, said that the directive does not apply to Kedah as Friday is an off day for the state. 

"The closure involves a total of 1,600 schools and 728,739 students. Therefore we ask all district education offices and the state education departments to inform the students and their parents over the closure,” it said.

The schools that will reopen on Friday are in Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Bentong in Pahang as well as Kuching, Sri Aman, Samarahan and Betong in Sarawak. 

"We advise the schools to take the necessary precautionary measures to remind their students to take care of their health and wear face masks while in schools," said the statement. 

The Ministry also reiterated that the school closure was to ensure that the haze does not affect the health of the students in the country. 

"The order is applicable to both government and private schools. In any case where private schools wish to remain open, we would remind them to abide by the guidelines of the ministry," it added.