KUALA LUMPUR — Parents should not be left to shoulder the responsibility of deciding whether their children should attend school during unhealthy haze conditions, the Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) said.
Its chairperson Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahman said while giving parents discretion over whether to send their children to school could serve as a useful safety measure, it should not replace a clear national policy on school closures.
“I think giving parents discretion is a useful safety valve but not a substitute for a national policy,” she told Scoop.
Azimah said this approach, announced by Education Minister Datuk Seri Fadhlina Sidek today, could place an undue burden on parents unable to take leave from work, to arrange childcare or to supervise their children’s home-based learning.
She said the government should instead take collective responsibility when air quality deteriorates to levels that pose a risk to children.
“The principle should be: when the air is sufficiently unhealthy that the government believes children should not be exposed to it, the government should make that decision collectively, rather than leaving it to parents who may have very different circumstances,” she said.
Fadhlina earlier today said it was standard policy to close schools only when the Air Pollutant Index (API) reaches 200.
But Azimah said the API 200 threshold was too high as the first trigger for suspending physical classes, noting that the level was already classified as “very unhealthy”.
“By waiting until that level, we are effectively accepting prolonged exposure to unhealthy air before removing children from the school environment,” she said.
PAGE favours a more precautionary and graduated approach, she said, with API 150 serving as the trigger for suspending physical classes and moving pupils to home-based learning or PdPR (Home-Based Teaching and Learning).
Azimah stressed that this would not necessarily mean closing the entire school system when the API reaches 150.
Instead, she proposed a three-tier response:
API 100: No outdoor activities, sports or assemblies.
API 150: Suspend physical classes and activate PdPR/home-based learning.
API 200: Full school closure and continued PdPR, with the threshold also triggering stronger public-health measures.
According to Azimah, the system would allow authorities to respond progressively to deteriorating air quality rather than relying on an “all-or-nothing” approach.
She said that the duration of exposure should be taken into consideration, rather than relying solely on a single API reading.
“If API remains around 140 to 160 for several consecutive days, we should not keep saying, ‘It hasn’t reached 200, so everything is fine’,” she said.
Azimah said PAGE broadly supported the 100-150-200 gradated system, describing it as more sensible rather than relying on a single threshold for school closures.
She added that the priority should ultimately be to ensure children were not exposed to unhealthy air simply because authorities had yet to reach the formal closure threshold.
Aa such, responsibility for a public health decision should ultimately rest with the government rather than individual families. — September 7, 2026