Kelantan flood-hit schools prepare to open, but no lessons yet

The classrooms in SMK Manek Urai are caked in mud after the massive flood in Kelantan. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, January 10, 2015.

In Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Kuala Krai, one of the schools badly hit by the Kelantan flood, broken desks and tables have been dumped in heaps outside classrooms, alongside teetering piles of textbooks bloated with mud.

Classrooms on the first two floors are filthy, with destroyed soft boards, mud-encrusted curtains, doors falling off its hinges, and little else – all the furniture has been thrown out, while what remained was ruined.

A member of the staff told The Malaysian Insider that the school’s facilities were almost completely destroyed by the flood, as the water had submerged the entire first and second floors of the 14 blocks.

Yet, like all other schools in Kelantan, the school will still open tomorrow, raising questions as to how students – many of them flood victims – are expected to begin the school year with no desks or chairs to sit on.

“Whether the school is ready or not to be opened, registration will happen this Sunday,” the staff member told The Malaysian Insider.

“It will be impossible for classes to resume properly; for the first week, at least, students and teachers are expected to just help clean the school.”

According to the staff member, many volunteers had over the past week helped to clean the school.

But the school was so large, and the destruction so immense, that the students’ return tomorrow reflected the necessity for it to commence rebuilding.

One teacher from a school in Tanah Merah, also in Kelantan, who declined to be named, said that many of his colleagues were also flood victims, but they had no choice and had to resume work tomorrow.

“I can’t imagine how school will be like this Sunday. The computers are destroyed, the whiteboards, the desks and chairs... I think we will all be more focused on cleaning up.”

Mud-covered books drying in the sun in Kampung Manek Urai Lama, Kelantan. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, January 10, 2015.No new supplies of tables and desks had come in, he said, adding that they would have to make do with what little they had been able to salvage.

“My school has two levels, and only the lower level was affected by the flood. So we still have some furniture that can be used.

“But the problem now is the heavy rain, which isn’t stopping. Last night, as I was leaving the school, the water level was so high that only my Pajero could go through it,” he said.

Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said yesterday that about 130 out of 165 schools, which is about 79% of schools in Kelantan, would be ready to operate by Sunday.

"We still have two more days and I believe that the remaining schools will be able to open by January 11," he had told reporters.

Idris also said students in the flood-hit state could attend school with whatever they have.

"Even if you have no uniforms and all you have is 'kain', you can come to school," he said.

Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said on Tuesday that if any school could not be used, the students could go to the nearest school to share classrooms, or, in special cases, lessons would be postponed.

SMK Manek Urai is among the schools in Kelantan which was badly damaged by the floods. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, January 10, 2015.The schools in Kelantan were in varying states of disarray during a recent visit by The Malaysian Insider.

Some schools, like Sekolah Kebangsaan Kuala Krai, were completely ruined, while others, like Sekolah Kebangsaan Manek Urai Baru, still had families sheltering in them even as the schools get ready to reopen.

However, the flood victims knew they had no choice but to move out of the temporary relief centres by Sunday.

“I’m moving back to my old house in one or two days. I’ve been going back every day to clean it, but without water, it’s still uninhabitable,” Mohd Fairus Che Dir, 27, a clerk, told The Malaysian Insider on Wednesday.

“I’ve got nothing there waiting for me except the structure of the house. Everything else was swept away by the flood. If I could, I wish I could just stay here longer.”

As of Friday, the 39 relief centres across Kelantan, which comprise schools, community halls and mosques, still had 4,742 flood victims.

- TMI