ALOR SETAR: The Kedah Education Department is providing alternative examination centres to allow Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) candidates to sit for the exam should floods occur.
State Education director Mansor Lat said 18 schools in Kota Setar, Kubang Pasu, Padang Terap and Pendang identified as flood prone areas were allocated alternative centres to facilitate the exams.
“We also informed exam candidates in high risk areas to stay over with friends or relatives who live near exam centres. This way they can take their exams at the nearest centre should theirs be affected,” he told reporters after launching the 2011 Kedah Crime Prevention in Schools at the Sultan Abdul Halim School here yesterday.
He said the department will set up a flood operation room which will contact district and state-level flood operation rooms to coordinate relocation of candidates.
“We advise candidates who may be affected to bring along important documents when they relocate, and we have asked schools to provide stationery for them,” he added.
Meanwhile, in Temerloh, 75 flood relief centres in Temerloh which can accommodate 32,000 people at a time is now gearing up for possibilities of floods in the district.
Temerloh district officer who is also District Disaster Committee Chairman, Datuk Abdul Mouin Abdul Hamid, said the centres consisted of schools, public halls, mosques, community halls and hill areas.
“Our preparation includes 83 land vehicles; lorries and four-wheel drive vehicles are also on standy-by for relocation works while 18 rescue boats from the army, police, Public Works Department, district offices and fire and rescue department are also ready,” he told Bernama here.
Abdul Mouin said 14 forward bases and 26 helicopter landing sites were identified to facilitate delivery of food supply should the area be flooded or lose land connection.
“These flood relief centres will be opened immediately after floods hit,” he said.
In Kota Baharu, the Tengku Mahkota of Kelantan Dr Tengku Muhammad Faiz Petra Sultan Ismail Petra urged people living by the banks of Sungai Kelantan and Sungai Golok to take precaution on dangers that could arise from the monsoon season.
“The public needs to take care in facing the moonsoon season in Kelantan… so those who reside by the river should be prepared,” he said in a speech delivered by the Comptroller of the Kelantan Royal Household, Datuk Abdul Halim Hamad at the Istana Balai Besar, here.
In relations to that, he hoped youths, especially teenagers, and voluntary bodies would extended assistance to flood victims in terms of healthcare and welfare.
“The Malaysian government and people need to take the flood situation in Thailand as an example in preparing for the disaster,” he added. — Bernama