Toxic haze disrupts university life in South-east Asia

A toxic haze that has blighted university operations in Indonesia and other parts of Asia shows the growing risks posed by environmental issues, but there is little confidence that institutions will put plans in place to deal with future crises.

For several months the Indonesian archipelago has experienced its worst forest fires in more than 10 years, blanketing many of the major islands in a tangerine haze that stifles the air quality and forces people to stay inside.

Health risks associated with exposure to polluted air have driven universities to adjust their teaching arrangements by limiting outdoor activities and suspending face-to-face learning in several cases.

The toxic haze was caused by severe forest fires on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan stemming from slash-and-burn agricultural policies that incentivise commercial farmers to clear land for palm oil plantations.

In a rallying cry for more comprehensive action from government to deal with the haze, hundreds of Indonesian students took to the streets of Jakarta at the end of October. Their demands included calls for a more coordinated emergency response and provision of support for communities affected by the haze.

Agustian Sutrisno, an adviser with Cowater International consultancy and a lecturer at Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya in Jakarta, told Times Higher Education that: “there is a lot of discontent on where the country is heading”.

He said that the haze in Indonesia has persisted for four months and students have been protesting in response to the disruption as well as other issues including the rising cost of living and tuition fees.

Most universities put their classes online because “it is impossible to leave the house in the haze” but not all institutions across the archipelago were equally affected.

The majority of Indonesian universities are in Java but universities in Sumatra and Kalimantan were most impacted by the haze.

The haze also affected students across the Malay Archipelago, including Singapore and Malaysia.

James Chin, professor of Asian studies at the University of Tasmania with expertise in Southeast Asia, explained that the Malaysian Ministry of Education suspended all outdoor activities in the height of the haze crisis.

“When the haze got really bad, students were asked to stay at home,” Chin continued. “Most of the classes shifted online”.

Online classes did not affect students’ capacity to learn but did impact their ability to do extracurricular activities, which play an important role in the Malaysian higher education system, according to Chin.

“All sports activities, anything to do with physical stuff, field trips...they were all suspended,” he said.

According to Chin, universities have no plans to prepare for future haze episodes in Malaysia “because people have short memories, especially in the social media age”.

One PhD student at the National University of Singapore (NUS), who preferred to remain anonymous, told Times Higher Education that the transboundary haze has also affected Singaporean university life.

“At NUS, Campus Emergency and Security sent out a health advisory to staff and students with guidelines for when to cancel or limit fieldwork activities. The university also extended opening hours for air-conditioned spaces like libraries and installed additional air purifiers.

“During everyday activities, we saw more and more students with N95 masks on, and an increasing number of people calling for accountability for companies – including Singaporean ones – connected to the Indonesian wildfires.

“This might have been a factor in the government’s recent announcement on amendments to Singapore’s laws against transboundary haze, significantly raising the maximum fines for offenders," they said.

rosalind.skillen@timeshighereducation.com