Education Dept activates SPM contingency plans for flood-hit S’wak districts

THE SARAWAK Education Department is activating contingency plans for SPM students sitting for the examination in flood-hit and flood-prone districts.

Its director Datuk Dr Azhar Ahmad said the plans are crucial to ensure as little disruption as possible for the pupils despite rainfall becoming more serious in places such as in parts of southern Sarawak.

"One of the key features of our contingency plans involves opening up more hostels and dormitories for students to allow them to stay and live there during the duration of the exams until March 7 if their areas are often affected by floods.

"Those students who may get stranded by floods must alert us in the department now or their schools so that such arrangements can be made fast.

"There are districts where entire villages, longhouses and rural roads could be flooded for days.

"SPM students in these areas can stay at the school hostels where their exam centres are," he said when visiting SPM centres in Kuching yesterday.

He advised the students not to return to their homes if floods occur.

"Please liaise with your schools and teachers on any urgent need," he said.

Kuching and other southern districts are being hit by heavy rain and flash floods even as the SPM examination period began yesterday.

The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee has given instructions to activate 652 centres in all the districts throughout this big state for flood relief-emergency evacuation purposes.

The centres located in urban and rural districts can collectively accommodate up to 162,091 flood evacuees.

Staff and volunteers of social welfare agencies have been told to be ready to help out in these centres at any time needed.

Welfare teams are also readying food bases to deploy food aid to affected zones.

There are about 38,000 SPM students sitting for the public examination across the state. – The Vibes, January 31, 2024