Education Minister Desmond Lee told parents on Sunday night that Singapore schools will open as usual on Monday, even as the island woke to another morning of unhealthy air, because the National Environment Agency’s next-day forecast did not cross the threshold that would force the Ministry of Education to shut campuses.
Lee posted the assurance on his social channels after NEA’s 6 p.m. advisory on 11 October said smoke from southern Sumatra and West Kalimantan was still drifting toward Singapore and that the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index would remain in the unhealthy range. At midnight, readings stood between 107 in the north and 151 in the west — high enough to cancel outdoor co-curricular activities and national school games fixtures, but still below the “very unhealthy” band that unlocks mask distribution and haze shelters across the 28-agency task force playbook.
What MOE told principals
In a circular sent to school leaders on Sunday, MOE repeated guidance it last mass-issued during the 2019 haze season: suspend all outdoor physical activities when the 24-hour PSI enters the unhealthy range; move indoor physical education to low-intensity options; and keep windows closed where air-conditioning is available. Principals were told to watch the 6 p.m. NEA forecast rather than midday spikes, because that is the number MOE uses when deciding whether students should stay home the next day.
Lee’s message made clear that Monday’s decision was a forecast call, not a guarantee for the rest of the week. MOE closes schools only when NEA projects that the following day’s 24-hour PSI will exceed 300 and enter the hazardous range. That bar is deliberately higher than the “very unhealthy” trigger at 200, where the Haze Task Force begins handing out N95 masks and opening air-conditioned community club shelters.
Parents and employers still juggling plans
Even with schools open, attendance offices were bracing for higher absentee rates. Several parent support groups shared checklists for N95 sizing and asked whether bus operators would allow students to eat in air-conditioned canteens instead of open-air tables. The Ministry of Manpower, in a parallel advisory on Friday, reminded employers to issue protective equipment to outdoor workers and to rotate vulnerable staff away from prolonged exposure when the PSI crosses 200.
Opposition MPs have asked in written questions whether MOE should publish a single webpage that maps PSI bands to concrete school actions, rather than leaving parents to parse separate NEA and MOE statements. The ministry has not committed to that change, but Lee said Sunday that schools would continue posting daily updates through official channels “so families can plan the night before.”
For now, the political stake is straightforward: keep half a million students in class without pretending the air is fine, while reserving full closures for a forecast the government has only had to use twice in the past decade. Monday’s opening bell will be the first test of whether that balance holds as the haze season peaks.