Old buildings, schools must be maintained - Annuar

KOTA BHARU, Aug 11 (Bernama) -- Old public building structures, including schools, need to be maintained to ensure safety, especially for students, said Ketereh Member of Parliament Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

He said the maintenance work was the responsibility of the Public Works Department (PWD), which can be carried out through inspection and verification.

“Safety audits need to be carried out on old buildings in schools that are decades old. We need to maintain them, don’t wait for major incidents to occur.

“If the school administration suspects that an old building or structure is unsafe, they must report it to the PWD because they can carry out inspections and determine whether it is safe to be used or not,” he said.

He told reporters this after visiting and presenting contributions to four Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Melor students, who were injured when a water tank burst recently, near Kampung Tasek Sri Kulim here today.

In the 10 am incident on Tuesday, Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin said several students of SMK Melor were injured after the school’s water tank burst near the school’s pedestrian pathway

Meanwhile, a Form Two student who was injured, Ilham Nor Mariam Mohd Hassan said she was still too traumatised to return to school after the incident.

“I have been given several days’ rest after receiving treatment at the Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital (HUSM) because I suffered injuries to my head after being hit by fragments of the broken roof and I also sprained my leg,” she said. 

-- BERNAMA