T

he authorities in haze-afflicted regions of Sumatra are striving to mitigate the negative affects on education, with students forced to stay at home for the best part of a month.

'€œThe students have been staying at home too long. We'€™re now telling them to come to school every Monday and Thursday to catch up with the lessons missed when the schools were temporarily shut down,'€ Pekanbaru Education Agency head Zulfadil said on Monday.

Zulfadil said his agency had decided to reopen schools up to senior high level twice a week while waiting for the air quality in the city to improve.

However, classes were limited to two hours a day: from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. for students of morning classes and from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. for students of afternoon classes, he said.

As such, Zulfadil said, teachers were required to make classes as effective as possible by explaining only the learning modules during the classes and giving assignments for the students to do at home and hand in during the subsequent class.

'€œThe emphasis is therefore on setting assignments to catch up with missing lessons,'€ he said.

To minimize the impacts of the haze on the students'€™ health, all students in Pekanbaru have been instructed to put on masks before they leave home and to keep them on during class. Schools with air-conditioning systems, meanwhile, have been granted dispensation to hold classes every day. '€œBut the headmasters have to guarantee the health of their students while at school,'€ Zulfadil said.

With many classes missed as a result of the haze, semester examinations have been postponed, also allowing time for students to catch up.

The decision to open limited classes has sparked debate; those who agree say that sending students home is pointless, as they continue to play outside.

Others, however, have accused the education agency of panicking ahead of the approaching examination season.

'€œThe schools were temporarily shut down because of health considerations. Are those considerations no longer valid?'€ asked Darman, a parent of an elementary school pupil in Pekanbaru.

Darman added that obliging students to put on masks at school was not effective as most elementary school students disliked using them. '€œThey can'€™t stand wearing a mask for long because it makes it difficult to breathe,'€ he said.

In Jambi city, meanwhile, schools have been closed for the last three weeks because of haze that has degraded the air quality in the region.

City administration secretary Daru Pratomo said that students had been sent home in consideration of the low air quality and its impact on pupil'€™s health.

'€œWe evaluate the air quality every day with relevant agencies,'€ Daru said on Monday.

Thick smog from land and forest fires has reportedly also plagued participants of the Tour de Singkarak international cycling race in West Sumatra, which entered its third stage on Monday.

'€œIf masks are distributed I'€™ll definitely put one on. My throat starts to hurt when I cycle through thick haze,'€ cyclist Budi Santoso of East Java'€™s Banyuwangi Racing Cycling Club told The Jakarta Post prior to the race'€™s start on Monday.