KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 30 — Schools in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya as well as Sembilan, Negri Sembilan and Sarawak have not been ordered to close tomorrow due to current haze conditions, contrary to a notice circulating on WhatsApp, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said today.

Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan took to his Facebook page and Twitter to clarify that a notice bearing the ministry’s name and announcing the closure of schools in the two federal territories and three states, was false.

The ministry, some schools and teachers have come under fire from some parents for the last-minute notice on school closures due to fluctuating haze conditions.

Some schools however, have learnt to deal with such notices.

Kindergarten headmaster Christine SK Lai said she received the statement from a teacher that she initially believed to be authentic due to its striking similarity to the previous directive from the ministry.

“It looks very real. It has the logo and it’s in Malay and it looks exactly like the first notice that went out,” she said in a phone interview with Malay Mail Online.

Lai added, however, that the ministry’s clarification came soon after she received the message on WhatsApp, which ensured that she did not inform parents about the school cancellations.

“The Education Ministry (MOE) would like to inform that based on continued country-wide observations and based on the Air Pollutant Index (API) on 30 September, it was found that several states and areas showed API readings that were unhealthy (API 101-200) and very unhealthy (API 201-300).

“As such, the MOE would like to inform that all schools in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory, Putrajaya Federal Territory, Negeri Sembilan, Bahagian Sri Aman, Kuching and Samaran, which are in Sarawak, must be shut down on 1 October (Thursday),” the fake statement read.

Schools are ordered to close when the API reading reaches the unhealthy level. A reading of zero to 50 is healthy, 51 to 100 moderate, 101 to 200 unhealthy, 201 to 300 very unhealthy and 300 and above hazardous.

Schools in several states had been ordered closed on September 15 and Monday, affecting thousands of students.

On Sunday, Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid announced the closure of schools would no longer be guided by just the API after questions were raised about its accuracy.

He said schools should be closed if visibility dropped below 500m from the normal 10km.

At 6pm yesterday, 11 areas nationwide recorded unhealthy API readings.

The highest was in Balok Baru, Pahang, at 128, followed by Larkin Lama in Johor at 124.