MALAYSIAN SCHOOL GOVT EXAMS ON AS SCHEDULED DESPITE FLU PANDEMIC

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 4 (Bernama) -- The Standard Six, Form Three and Form Five
Malaysian government school examinations will be held as scheduled despite the
Influenza A(H1N1)pandemic, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced
Tuesday.

Muhyiddin, who is also the education minister, said no decision had been
made on a proposal to bring forward the third mid-term school holidays scheduled
from Aug 22 to 30.

It is learnt that the idea of bringing forward the school break is to keep
children away from school and, hopefully, at home to reduce the likelihood of
local transmission of the disease.

The Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) for Standard Six pupils is
scheduled for Sept 8 to 10, the Junior Secondary School Examination for Form
Three students from Oct 7 to 9 and Oct 12 and 13, and the Malaysia Certificate
of Education (SPM) written examination for Form Five students from Nov 19 to Dec
16.

These and other decisions were adopted at a meeting of the National
Inter-Ministerial Influenza Pandemic Committee chaired by Muhyiddin here.

Muhyiddin said: "All the examinations will be held as scheduled. If there
are cases of students suffering from the flu, they will be isolated. If a school
is ordered to shut down, students taking examinations will have to return to
school to sit the examinations.

"Students under treatment in hospitals can take the examinations at the
respective hospitals if permitted by the doctor.

"We have yet to decide on the proposal to bring forward the third mid-term
school break."

Muhyiddin also said that the Health Ministry has been asked to double its
stockpile of antiviral, for 20 per cent of the Malaysian population.

"Right now we have RM20 million (US$5.7 million) worth of antiviral for 10
per cent of the population. We have to obtain an allocation of RM20 million more
to raise the stockpile for 20 per cent (of the population)," he said.

--BERNAMA