BAGAN DATUK: Three-, five- and seven-ton Malaysian Armed Forces trucks have been mobilised to three states badly hit by floods to ferry Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination candidates between dormitories and examination centres since Saturday (Nov 30).
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is National Disaster Management Committee chairman, said this was to ensure candidates in Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah could be at the exam centres at the appointed time.
"I made this decision as Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek asked that they (the candidates) be ferried by armed forces trucks. This has been done since yesterday in three states, Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah," he said at a media conference after officiating the Bagan Datuk district-level Sejahtera Social One Stop Centre programme here on Sunday (Dec 1).
He said there were 3,011 candidates in Kelantan, 1,734 in Terengganu and 532 in Kedah who will sit for the exam starting Monday (Dec 2), and that 174 schools throughout the country were affected by floods, with Kelantan having the most, at 80 schools, followed by 62 schools in Terengganu and 14 schools in Kedah.
Also, he shared that 396 relief centres have been set up in schools throughout the country.
On the RM1,000 Ihsan Cash Aid for heads of households affected by floods, Ahmad Zahid said currently, 43,000 heads of households have been identified as qualified for the aid, which involves an allocation of RM4.3mil.
Even though the aid was only given to those who evacuated to registered centres, the government, in its concern, will provide the aid to those who evacuated to newly opened centres as well, and noted that the distribution of the aid had started since yesterday in stages. – Bernama
