SPM: 89 candidates stranded due to Johor floods

JOHOR BAHRU: A total of 89 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) candidates in Johor were stranded and could not sit for their examination at 10.30 am this morning due to the flood situation, said Johor Education, Information and Communication Committee chairman Norlizah Noh.

She said all of them were from eight schools, one in Kulai and seven in Segamat.

"In Segamat, those affected by the floods involved 45 students from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Tenang Stesen; SMK LTP Pemanis (32); SMK Labis (five people) while the rest were from SMK Bandar Putra, SMK Gemereh, SMK Dato' Bentara Dalam and SMK Tinggi.

"In addition, there was one student affected from SMK Taman Putri, Kulai," she said in a statement today.

Norlizah said (due to the flood situation) a total of 127 candidates were forced to board at four examination centres involving SMK Laksamana, SMK Tun Habab, SMK Agama and SMK Bandar in Kota Tinggi.

Meanwhile, Norlizah said another 89 other candidates arrived safely at the examination centres with some of them starting late.

They comprise 34 students of SMK Sungai Tiram and SMK Kota Masai (six), Pasir Gudang; SMK Dato Abdul Rahman Yassin (three), SMK Taman Damansara Aliff (one), SMK Majidi Bahru 2 (two) and SMK Taman Sutera (two) in Johor Bahru.

In Kulai, the students were from SMK Bukit Batu (two), SMK Bandar Tenggara (five); while in Kluang there were four at SMK Seri Kota Paloh, SMK Kahang (three), SMK Seri Perdana (two), SMK Paloh (20), and at SMK Yong Peng, Batu Pahat there were five students.

All students involved are scheduled to sit for their science and physics examinations in the morning and home science in the afternoon.

Floods began to hit Johor last night, involving 2,162 flood victims from 581 families in five districts namely Segamat, Kluang, Kota Tinggi, Johor Bahru and Kulai.

Meanwhile, in SARIKEI, Sarawak, three SPM candidates from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Meradong had to seek help from the Bintangor Fire and Rescue Station (BBP) to get to school today when the road in front of their longhouse was flooded.

They had to use the fire department's rescue boats from their longhouse Rumah Rabong, Ulu Strass to go to the main road at 7.50 am today.

Bintangor BBP chief Nicholas Belulin in a statement here said that these students comprised a male student and two female students.

Before that, the fire and rescue team also evacuated residents from Rumah Michael, also in the Ulu Strass area which was affected by 1.2 m-high flood waters at 5.56 am.

"The displaced victims consisted of 10 men, six women, three boys, six girls, and a baby who were evacuated using a rescue boat to a nearby longhouse located on higher ground," he also said.

-- BERNAMA