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Kuala Lumpur: The Education Ministry (MOE) is looking into making it standard practice for essential spaces in schools to be located on higher floors to minimise damage during floods.Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin said they include the administration office, teachers’ room, computer room and textbook storage room. He said from what has been shared on Facebook, many schools which had never been bit by floods before were not spared from the recent floods.

“This morning we went to Bentong, Pahang for a gotong-royong clean up session of SMK Bentong. I was informed that this is the first time SMK Bentong was hit by floods, in which floodwaters almost reached the second floor. “All furniture and equipment on the ground floor were badly damaged, including those in the teachers’ room and computer room,” he said.

Radzi thanked all parties involved in the gotong-royong session which was participated by teachers, school support staff, Guru Pewaris Negara volunteers, non-governmental organisations and the Malaysian Armed Forces. He added that the MOE will ensure infrastructure maintenance work and the replacement of furniture is expedited. Meanwhile, the Government through the Cooperatives Commission of Malaysia (SKM) has allocated initial assistance of RM1 million for cooperatives affected by the recent floods, with an allocation of up to RM30,000 each.

Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar said the assistance would cover repair works of flood-damaged infrastructure at agricultural, plantation and livestock sites run by the cooperatives.

Noh, in a statement Monday, also announced an initiative to reduce the Statutory Reserve Fund (KWRS) to be transferred by cooperatives from 15 per cent of audited net profit after operating adjustments to eight per cent to help them to restore their businesses.

He said the initiative is provided to the cooperatives from the financial year of Dec 31, 2021, until Nov 30, 2022.

Noh said SKM also allowed postponement of cooperatives accounts audit due to the destruction of accounting documents in the flooding.

“This postponement also does not rule out the possibility that the cooperatives will also have to postpone the annual general meeting to a period to be determined later,” he said.