Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Schools in Indonesia’s South Sumatra province shifted to remote learning on Wednesday as worsening haze from forest and peatland fires pushed air pollution to unhealthy levels. Officials said the disruption has added to school closures that have already affected more than 1.4 million students across the country, with the fires made worse this year by an intensifying El Nino pattern and a prolonged dry season.
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The toxic haze has spread beyond Indonesia’s borders across Southeast Asia, creating a regional health crisis. Smoke has drifted as far as the Philippines, more than 800 kilometres away, and crossed Malaysia’s emergency-level threshold, prompting authorities to declare an emergency last week in a town in Sarawak state on Borneo Island.
In Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra province, schools from kindergarten to junior high were ordered to hold classes online from Wednesday under an emergency measure. Mayor Ratu Dewa said the policy covered more than 250,000 students at 1,030 schools and would be reviewed regularly, with in-person classes resuming once conditions improve.
Dewa said the thickening smoke posed health risks to children, including acute respiratory infections. “Students’ health and safety remained the government’s priority,” he said. Teachers were also asked to avoid excessive assignments during the period of remote learning, he added.
Government data showed that about 12,800 schools across Sumatra and Borneo islands remained closed as dangerous air quality persisted. Save the Children said haze from wildfires, intensified by El Nino-driven dry conditions, has forced more than 1.4 million students into online learning in affected parts of Indonesia. “The Earth, our home, is on fire, and children, including here in Asia, are being left to bear the consequences,” said Arshad Malik, the organisation’s regional director for Asia. “This is not just a health or an environmental crisis, it is a child rights crisis.”
Large fires have burned thousands of hectares in Indonesia’s Kalimantan and Sumatra regions, including areas of Borneo, the world’s third-largest island shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The wildfire crisis has been centred in Indonesia’s Kalimantan region on Borneo. Satellite Environment Ministry data on Wednesday showed Central Kalimantan remained the country’s wildfire hotspot, with 2,459 hotspots detected. South Sumatra recorded 1,445 hotspots, the second-highest number nationwide, while West Kalimantan ranked third with 928 hotspots.
Authorities have stepped up firefighting efforts in several provinces to contain the blazes, using aircraft provided by countries in Southeast Asia and beyond, including Japan, the United States, Russia, Australia, Canada and Ukraine. Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry recorded more than 202,000 hectares of burned land between January and July, as the fires continued to disrupt schooling and spread haze across the region.
With PTI Inputs
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
