School authorities, the parents-teachers' associations (PTA) or the school alumni need not worry about the list of schools at risk of facing disciplinary and drug problems.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said the list was so that the schools could improve."Parents need not be upset with the label, the ministry has a criteria to determine which schools (are on the list), if they are on it, it does not mean that the whole school has problems.

"For instance, if there are 900 students, only one or two (are problematic) which means the percentage is not much, but the school has to improve," he told reporters after launching the Ipoh Timur UMNO Division delegates conference here today.

He was commenting on the complaints from parents who were shocked with the list as they claimed the schools their children were in did not have any problems.

Last Thursday, the Education Ministry released a list of 402 schools in the country which were at risk of having serious disciplinary and drug problems among the students.

Mahdzir, who is also UMNO Supreme Council member, said the ministry did not set a time frame for the schools to improve, but would look at the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the schools from time to time.

"There is no time frame, from time to time we will assess, we will look at the KPI and see how they have improved, so by the end of this year for example, we can send our team to the school and and assess," he said.

Commenting on the unhappiness of the National Union of the Teaching Profession which did not agree with the ministry's decision to allow first year students to bring device tools and gadgets to schools next year, Mahdzir said the ministry would meet with the NUTP soon on the matter.

-- BERNAMA