SHAH ALAM: Twenty nine schools in the Klang and Kuala Langat districts will closed tomorrow due to the worsening haze situation.
With the Air Pollutant Index (API) registering a high of 213 earlier in the morning and currently hovering just below 200, the state Education Department announced that as of 7pm, 29 schools have been confirmed to be closed tomorrow.
The Education Department said 24 schools in Klang and five in Kuala Langat will be affected by the closure.
Seven are secondary schools, 16 are primary schools while three Tamil and Chinese primary schools each will be closed.
The closures will affect a total of 45,265 students.
The Education Department also reminded schools that if the API readings exceed 200 in their areas, they need to abide by the Education Ministry’s circular by immediately closing the schools until the situation improves.
Five schools were closed today after the API reading at the Johan Setia mobile station registered a reading of ‘very unhealthy’.
The schools are Sekolah Kebangsaan Pendamar in Klang, SK Bukit Naga in Shah Alam, SK Jalan Kebun, SK Kampung Johan Setia and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Jalan Kebun.
An API reading of 0 to 50 indicates good air quality; 51 to 100 moderate; 101 to 200 unhealthy; 201 to 300 very unhealthy, and 300 and above, hazardous.
The Johan Setia area is considered a hotspot with frequent brush fires and open burnings taking place there.
The area is a fertile farmland teeming with vegetable farms. Some parts of the area are also classified as peat soil areas and any fires there are very difficult to put out.
The practise of ‘slash and burn’ farming techniques are also reportedly used and this is believed to be a contributing factor to the haze.
However it is unclear whether the current haze problem here purely transboundary or with localised elements.
Klang Fire and Rescue Department chief Samsol Maarif Saibani had previously said there were no reported cases of fires in Johan Setia so far but they were keeping a close watch on the area.
“In our patrol rounds with the Department of Environment, we found the area to be enveloped with haze but there were no fire incidents.
“We attribute this to the transboundary haze pollution,” he had told the New Straits Times.
Their joint checks in areas such as Jalan Kebun, Bandar Putera 2, Jalan Johan Setia 1 and Jalan Telekom have so far not found any evidence of open burning activities.
Here are the schools that will be closed on Sept 13 due to haze in Selangor:
SK KAMPUNG JOHAN SETIA
SMK JALAN KEBUN
SK BUKIT NAGA
SK JALAN KEBUN
SK KAMPUNG PENDAMAR
SJKT TAMAN SENTOSA
SJKT LADANG BATU AMPAT
SK BUKIT RIMAU
SJKC WU TECK
SJKC CHUNG HUA
SK KLANG JAYA
SMK KOTA KEMUNING
SK BUKIT KEMUNING 2
SMK KAMPUNG JAWA
SK KAMPUNG JAWA 2
SK KAMPUNG JAWA
SMK SHAHBANDARAYA
SMK RAJA MAHADI
SK TELOK MENEGON
SK TAMAN SRI ANDALAS
SJKC KHE BENG
SMK SRI ANDALAS
SJKT LADANG EMERALD
SK KOTA KEMUNING
SMK SIJANGKANG JAYA
SK SIJANGKANG
SK SIJANGKANG JAYA
SK KEBUN BAHARU
SK KPG MEDAN