Tri-Ministerial Panel To Decide On School Closures As Haze Conditions Persist

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 – Any decision to order school closures due to the ongoing haze will be made jointly by three key ministries—the Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Health (MOH), and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES)—based on real-time atmospheric and medical expertise.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Fadhlina Sidek emphasized on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, that while student health and safety remain the top priority, inter-ministerial evaluations must also weigh the risk of learning loss associated with prolonged school shutdowns.

“From time to time, these three ministries will sit down and make a decision based on the expertise available, particularly at the MOH and NRES levels,” Fadhlina stated.

“We hope this will not be prolonged because we know the impact if school closures continue. So it requires a very careful approach and guidance before we make a decision,” she added.

Policy Framework and Context

Key highlights regarding the school haze decision framework include:

• Inter-Agency Governance: Recommendations on physical school closures will rely directly on MOH health data and NRES Air Pollutant Index (API) monitoring rather than unilateral decisions.
• Mitigating Learning Loss: The Ministry of Education aims to minimize disruptions to academic calendars and ongoing school assessment schedules.
• Anti-Bullying Literacy Launch: Fadhlina delivered the remarks following the Anti-Bullying Literacy programme held at the IPG Bahasa Melayu Campus in Kuala Lumpur, alongside Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.

The three ministries will continue to coordinate daily air quality assessments before issuing state-level or nationwide school directives.

–NMT