KOTA KINABALU: The Ministry of Education and the State Education Department will continue to ensure that schools all over the country adhere to the rules stated in the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).
This is to ensure the safety of students and to prevent mishaps such as the one in Membakut several days ago, whereby three school boys had drowned during a leadership course.
“We do have our own SOP. We constantly remind the schools and district education offices to always abide by the rules of the SOP.
“For the public’s information, activities such as these are conducted quite often here in Malaysia. However, it is very unfortunate that this tragedy has happened in Sabah.
“We try to minimize. It would be even better if we can prevent it from happening at all.
“So that is why we constantly remind schools to always stick to the SOP to ensure that in everything they do, the safety of the students should be the school’s priority. This is the policy of the Ministry of Education,” said Deputy Education Director Datuk Amin Senin.
Commenting on the parents’ demand for further explanation, Amin said that there was no need for such explanation as an official report had already been lodged.
He further explained that this issue had been brought up to the Education Ministry and the reports and investigations from the State Education Department had been submitted.
When asked about the possibility of legal action being taken by the parents, Amin said that he was not able to comment further as all he could do now is to wait for the outcome. However, Amin disclosed that his department will nevertheless respond accordingly.
“We have to wait for the follow-up and it will be based on the reports received,” he said, in explaining whether the teachers involved will be facing legal charges.
Commenting on the assistance that will be given to the families of the victims, Amin said that the State Education Department had already discussed with the respective families since the early stages of this case.
Apart from that, Amin had also given an explanation regarding the release form that had been signed by the parents.
“The declaration signed by the parents was based on their own consent,” said Amin.
It is understood that prior to the signing of the release form, there was no indication that the students were suffering from any sort of illness.
On April 29, SMK Putatan’s Hafiz Hamizan Rahman, 16, Daniel Norman, 16, and Khuzaimi Zakaran, 17, had tragically drowned while trekking along a man-made stream at the Eco Lake Resort in Membakut.
Initital reports claimed that the three students had slipped into a lake after the side slopes collapsed beneath them.
However, in a shocking turn of events, eyewitnesses revealed that the resort appointed guide had led the students towards the lake and had instructed them to get down the ledge and into the lake, with the intention of crossing it.
The parents of the three victims, Norisham Purah and Fatimah Mohd Salleh, Abdul Rahman Ahmad and Nur Fazryena Fung Abdullah, have appointed lawyer Ram Singh to help them with their struggle to seek justice.
Norisham told the press on Sunday that the initial information received from an SMK Putatan teacher regarding the events that led to the teenagers’ death contradicted with those from key eye-witnesses at the scene.
He said the family had been formerly made to understand by an SMK Putatan teacher, who was not at the scene during the incident, that their children had slipped into a lake after the side slopes collapsed beneath them.