JERANTUT, Jan 8 (Bernama) — Deputy Prime Minister today instructed all schools affected by the floods in the country to submit immediately their respective reports on the damaged classroom furniture and textbooks to the District Education Office.
Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Education Minister, said it was to enable the furniture to be replaced as soon as possible, so that students would feel comfortable in the classroom when schools start next week.
“We have been informed about the damaged school furniture and the need to replace it all, including chairs and tables, as well as textbooks which had not been able to be distributed to the students. We will allocate more money to replace those things immediately.
“All repair work or replacement of damaged classroom furniture will also be done immediately at those flood-affected schools,” he told reporters after chairing the meeting of Pahang Post-Flood Action Plan Coordination Committee here today.
Meanwhile, Muhyiddin said 56 schools in the three flood-hit states, which were badly affected or were turned into evacuation centres, were allowed to postpone the opening of their 2015 school sessions.
“This involves 34 schools in Pahang, 18 in Perak and four in Kelantan. However, these schools are required to replace these school days on suitable dates later,” he said.
After the meeting, the deputy prime minister proceeded to Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pulau Tawar where he presented schooling aid totalling RM25.7 million to the Pahang Education Department to be distributed to all schoolchildren in the state.
The schooling aid was received by Pahang Education Director Mohd Rosdi Ismail.
The aid, which was announced in the 2015 Budget, would enable each schoolchild to receive RM100 to help their families in preparing their schooling necessities.
In his speech, Muhyiddin said it was hoped the aid would alleviate the burden of families, especially those badly affected by the floods.
“I hope all victims will be patient and remain strong while being tested by Allah, the government will act immediately to provide aid and assistance to those involved.
“We must also take a lesson from this disaster and to show more care and concern for the environment and not to clear forest and cut down trees at our whims and fancy,” he added.
— BERNAMA
