SEGAMAT, March 6 — There will be no postponement of the 2023/2024 academic school session scheduled for March 19 and 20 in flood-hit states, said Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek.

She said if the works to repair schools affected by the floods could not be carried out before those dates, students would be given the choice to attend classes via home-based teaching and learning (PdPR).

"There are 17 schools affected by the severe flooding situation in Johor, with Segamat being the worse hit with 14 schools affected while there are three affected schools in other districts. I think we will do our best to repair the damage immediately within these two weeks.

"We will not postpone the school session but we will give the option (to go through) PdPR so that the learning process continues,” she told reporters after visiting the temporary relief centre at Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Bali, in Chaah, here today.

Fadhlina said based on the report received from the technical side as well as from the engineers, the affected schools not only suffered damage, but there was also damage to assets including teachers’ desks and furniture.

The school session for the 2023/2024 academic calendar will start on March 19 for Group A states (Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Johor), while March 20 is for Group B states (Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Penang, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya).

As of this morning, the number of flood victims in three states recorded a total of 53,040 people, with Johor recording a total of 49,410 individuals.

Meanwhile, aware of difficulties experienced by flood victims who suffered when their school supplies including uniforms were destroyed, Fadhlina said the Ministry of Education will give flexibility to affected students to come to school wearing normal clothes.

"We have ingenuity and humane considerations, so they (students) can come to school in normal clothes as long as they still attend school and start the school session as usual,” she added.

Earlier, she also visited the relief centre at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Chaah here. — Bernama