Dozens of schools were shuttered for a second day Tuesday to protect against the spreading haze from wildfires at the start of a long and intense dry season worsened by El Nino.On the island of Borneo, Edi Rusdi Kamtono, the mayor of the city of Pontianak, West Kalimantan, ordered schools closed due to the smoke wafting over the city from fires elsewhere. Public records show there are tens of thousands of public school pupils in the city.
Indonesia shares the island of Borneo with Malaysia and Brunei.
Children will learn from home for as long as the air quality remains poor, Edi said in a statement Monday, without stating how many schools were affected.
"We have started to feel it, especially at night and in the morning, as haze has already blanketed the city of Pontianak," he said.
The haze also affected Malaysia.
