SHAH ALAM: Headmasters can use their discretion to close their schools if the air pollutant index (API) rises above 300.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said the headmasters would not need the ministry’s permission to do it if the haze worsens.

“The ministry’s decision has always been to close schools if the API is above 300.

“This was practised last year,” he told reporters here at a khatam Quran ceremony (to mark the completion of the reading of the Quran) by 22 pupils yesterday.

Hishammuddin also said schools should not allow students to take part in outdoor activities if the API was above 200.

He added that the decisionalso depended on the health condition of students.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said there had not been any “obvious increase” in the number of cases of asthma and respiratory illness.

Its disease control director, Datuk Dr Ramlee Rahmat, said only Sarawak hospitals had reported on Saturday that there was an increase in haze-related cases.

Checks on several clinics in the Klang Valley, however, showed many people had sought treatment for coughing, throat irritation and dry eyes.