Schools suffer RM10mil in damage from floods

PADANG TERAP: The damage to school property during the first wave of floods in Kelantan, Terengganu and Sabah in December is estimated to be RM10mil.

The damage caused by the second wave of floods – which affected schools in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Perak and Sabah earlier this month – is still not known, said Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.

He said this was because he had yet to receive a full report on the damage caused by the second wave.

“We expect the total value of damage to be higher for the second wave of floods compared with the first and will take immediate action to repair the affected schools.

“However, we are still unable to repair the damage caused by the first wave although we have sent out allocation warrants to the respective states,” he told reporters after launching the Felda Lubuk Merbau's golden jubilee celebration here yesterday.

Dozens of schools were closed and more than 15,000 students in Kelantan and Terengganu were affected by the recent floods.

Mahdzir, who is also Padang Terap MP, also suggested that a piece of land allocated for teachers’ quarters at Sekolah Kebangsaan Lubuk Merbau, be handed over to Felda.

This, he said, would be for building houses for second generation Felda Lubuk Merbau settlers.

“The quarters were built for the placement of teachers in the 1970s, but with today’s increasingly modern infrastructure many teachers have opted to live outside and it is only occupied by one or two tenants,” he said. — Bernama