PETALING JAYA: Two NGOs have called for clearer justifications and criteria for school closures because of the haze, as well as support for schools, households and businesses affected by the closures.
Engage and Projek Sama said while the school closures, including in Johor, were done with noble intentions, there was a need for rigorous cost-benefit analysis of policy measures, not “tough, fast and performative decisions”.
“School closures must be guided by transparent science, not ad hoc or performative announcements.
“Authorities should publish API thresholds, weather forecasts, and health criteria in advance, and communicate decisions by a fixed time wherever possible,” they said in a joint statement today.
The NGOs said that because of the school closures, parents may lose income, take unpaid leave, or scramble for childcare, while employers may lose staff, and canteen operators, bus operators and food suppliers may lose business.
“For households already under financial pressure, even one lost day matters,” they said.
Noting the Johor government’s order for schools and educational institutions to close for 12 school days until Oct 23, they said a conservative estimate put the cost of disrupted parental work time alone at about RM1 million for each day of primary school closure in the state.
“Leaving aside students in secondary, private and international schools, Johor has 336,045 pupils in government primary schools.
“Assuming that they come from 168,022 households with two children, that 5% of these households have a salaried parent who has to take leave to tend to their children, and that these parents earn the median monthly wage of RM2,688 (RM122 per working day for 22 working days per month), the productivity loss amounts to RM1,026,449.
“The actual burden is, therefore, likely to be substantially higher,” they said.
The NGOs called for the government to allow daily-wage earners, self-employed workers and low-income parents who lose income while caring for children during closures to qualify for temporary support payments administered through welfare programmes.
“Small school-dependent businesses, including canteen operators, school-bus operators and food suppliers, should receive limited emergency assistance when prolonged closures deprive them of ordinary income.
“Employers should be encouraged to provide flexible work arrangements and emergency childcare leave without penalising staff who have no alternative,” they said.
Engage and Projek Sama also called for free N95 masks for schools, B40 families and other vulnerable groups; vouchers or subsidies for air purifiers for B40 households with young children, elderly family members or the chronically ill; and the installation of air purifiers in community halls, libraries and other public facilities.