"My son felt rather depressed about sitting for the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) in hospital, so I had to cajole him for almost two hours last night," said Hanafi Idris, 39.

Hanafi is the father of UPSR candidate Luqmanul Hakim, a pupil of Sekolah Kebangsaan Sultan Sulaiman 1 who was admitted to Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital (HSNZ) late last night after a bout of diarrhea and vomiting.

He said his son started having fever last week and was vomiting badly last Thursday night, so he was admitted to a private hospital the next morning.

"Yesterday, my son could have been discharged but his condition turned for the worse and we sent him to HSNZ at midnight. He is very nervous about sitting for his UPSR in hospital although he had scored 6A's in the trial exam recently.

"Perhaps he is worried that he might not be able to repeat that success in the actual exam today. However, I told him that he only needed to do his best and leave the rest to Allah," Hanafi said when met by Bernama, here, today.

A mother, Nor Hasnizah Che Nik, 36, said her daughter Nur Dania Aliaa Mohd Zaidi had to sit for the UPSR at HSNZ due to her fractured thighbone after she was knocked down by a car while walking in front of her school last Tuesday evening.

"However, my daughter is calm while in hospital as she is visited by her school teachers and friends each day," she said.

Anxiety over the UPSR was also felt by another parent, Farida Abu Bakar, 49, as her daughter Nur Ain Hidayah Ngah could not write due to her injured veins at her wrist in a mishap at home while cleaning the window panes eight days ago.

"The doctor had advised that my daughter not move her wrist so as not to aggravate the injury. Since she cannot write at the moment, she was asked to record her answers to the exam questions through a special device and assisted by a teacher during the exam," she said.

Farida said she also advised her daughter to be calm and not to worry too much about the exam results.

Meanwhile, Terengganu Education director Shafruddin Ali Hussin, when contacted, said nine candidates had to sit for the UPSR in hospitals in the state. - BERNAMA