School to have clean water under 10MP

MIRI: The plight of SK Rancangan Sepupok pupils, who have been sharing a pond for 35 years with vegetation and algae, has finally caught the attention of the Education Ministry.

DAILY STRUGGLE: Pupils clear algae from the surface of the pond before taking their bath.

The ministry, in a brief statement emailed to the Borneo Post yesterday said the school has been shortlisted under the Clean Water Supply Project for Rural Schools.

An officer of the ministry’s Corporate Communication Unit, Emerly Clarice Joannes, said a research is being carried out to identify the type of action and facilities to be provided.

“If there are no obstacles or objections, the water project for SK Rancangan Sepupok is expected to be implemented this year,” she said.

Last February 21, Utusan Borneo highlighted the plight of the students who have been share a pond with vegetation and moss whenever they need to bath or brush their teeth.

The vegetation in the pond including algae was difficult to destroy and some of the pupils were experiencing itchiness on their bodies as the pond is not clean.

Though the school is only 3.5 kilometres from Batu Niah it has no clean water supply for as long as it has existed.

A bigger pond near the school had to be closed because it was contaminated by human faeces. Parents had also voiced their concern over the use of the pond.

They said crocodiles had been sighted in the area.

Therefore the pupils were only allowed at the edges of the pond which is murky and muddy.

The chairman of the school’s parent-teacher association (PTA), Napi Madang, 48, when contacted yesterday hoped that the water project would really materialise.

“We hope the project would be implemented as promised because we have been waiting for it for four decades,” he said.

He added that the RM5-million project was suggested for implementation under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP).