Minister: Schools to be closed if API over 200

A file picture of secondary school pupils with masks to protect them from the haze.

KUALA LUMPUR: Schools will be closed if the haze continues to worsen, says Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.

He said schools would be closed if the API exceeded 200.

With the haze expected to worsen this week, the ministry has set up an operations room to monitor the situation.

“We’ll receive daily reports from the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry on the haze from tomorrow and then we’ll decide whether there is a need to close schools.

“The Cabinet committee on the haze is chaired by the Natural Resources and Environment Minister (Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar),” he told a press conference after St John’s Institution’s academic excellence award ceremony here yesterday.

There will also be no replacements if the closure lasted less than five days.