DPM: School opening delayed a week

 

The Education Ministry today announced the postponement of the start of the 2015 school session for the whole country by one week because of the floods in several states.

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the new school session would begin on Jan 11 for Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Johor on Jan 12 for the other states.

"The postponement is inevitable due to the use of several schools as flood evacuation centres and floods at several other schools.

"It will take time for the teachers, parents and schoolchildren affected by the floods to make the necessary preparations by the time the school session starts," he said in a statement.

The new school session for Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Johor was originally scheduled to begin on Jan 4 and for the other states, on Jan 5.

"As Education Minister, I understand and am concerned about the difficulties faced in this situation by all parties including the schools' management, teachers, parents and students if the 2015 school session starts as scheduled,"
he said.

Muhyiddin said until yesterday, the Education Ministry found that 340 schools in seven states were affected by the floods, either they were turned into flood relief centres or were inundated by flood waters.

He also advised the schools' management that after the flood waters had subsided, they should use that time to organise gotong-royong to clean up the schools and compounds for the safety and comfort of the students.

Up to this morning, the number of flood victims in six states including Selangor has reached 225,731.

No replacement

Muhyiddin later also said the postponement of the start of the 2015 school session by a week does not require schools to replace these school days.

"There is no necessity to replace those days as the schooling period is sufficient. It is not a case of providing additional school holidays. We had to postpone the session due to a specific problem," he said.    
Muhyiddin spoke at a news conference after visiting two flood relief centres, at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Durian Mentangau and SK Kampung Nyior, Dungun.    

Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman, state secretary Mazlan Ngah and Terengganu National Security Council acting secretary Roslina Ngah were also present at the news conference.  

- Bernama