All schools in Johor to close for two days amid worsening haze

JOHOR: All schools in Johor will be closed for two days from Thursday (Oct 8) due to the worsening haze and deteriorating air quality across the Malaysian state. 

In a statement on Wednesday, Johor Education and Information Committee chairman Muhammad Naqib Md Ghazali said the decision was made following a directive from Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, as a precautionary measure to safeguard the health and safety of students

“The state government understands that the closure could affect parents and guardians who still had to work,” Naqib said.

“The cooperation and consideration of employers is greatly appreciated in providing appropriate flexibility to affected parents, including reasonable work arrangements according to the suitability of their respective organisations.” 

Johor is the first state in Peninsular Malaysia to announce temporary school closures during this year’s haze season. The statewide move follows the closure of around 300 educational institutions in Johor’s Batu Pahat district on Wednesday, after the Air Pollutant Index (API) there reached the “very unhealthy” range. 

Naqib said assessments scheduled during the closure would be postponed, subject to the decisions of the Johor Education Department and relevant parties. 

Home-based teaching and learning would be conducted during the two-day closure to ensure students could continue their lessons, Naqib added. 

“While this decision may require some adjustment from everyone, under the current circumstances, the safety and health of Johor’s children must be our shared priority,” he said. 

The closures come as air quality worsens across Johor, with several areas recording unhealthy API readings on Wednesday. In Batu Pahat, the API reached 203 on Tuesday night, placing it in the ‘very unhealthy’ range and marking the highest reading in the country, according to local news outlet the New Straits Times. 

Malaysia’s API scale lists readings of 0 to 50 as good, 51 to 100 as moderate, 101 to 200 as unhealthy, 201 to 300 as very unhealthy and above 300 as hazardous. 

Elsewhere in Johor, Segamat and Pasir Gudang recorded API readings of 171 on Wednesday afternoon, followed by Tangkak at 168, Kluang at 166, Larkin at 162, Kota Tinggi at 160 and Pengerang at 156. 

Meanwhile, Johor chief minister Onn Hafiz Ghazi has called on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to play a more active role in addressing the regional haze crisis and convene an emergency meeting. 

“With effective cooperation, prevention, monitoring and response, efforts can be implemented immediately and effectively for the people across the region,” he said in a statement on Wednesday evening. 

This was raised during a meeting with the Indonesian consul general in Johor Bahru Sigit Suryantoro Widiyanto, said Onn Hafiz.