Ministry monitoring Kelantan schools after H5N1 outbreak

IPOH: The Education Ministry is monitoring all schools in Kelantan after the state declared a state of emergency to contain the H5N1 outbreak.

There is close contact with the Health Ministry to make sure students there will not be affected by any outbreak, said Deputy Education Minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon.

“If your children are sick, best rest them at home and only return to school when fully recovered,” he said at a press conference after presenting the Education Ministry’s allocation for Chinese vernacular schools to 106 schools in Perak at SJKC Wan Hwa 2 yesterday.

Kelantan declared a state of emergency when the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus outbreak spread to four districts within days.

State Agriculture Committee chairman Datuk Che Abdullah Mat Nawi said the matter was now under the purview of the National Security Council.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said it was possible that the Kelantan government declared a state emergency to mobilise more resources to contain the H5N1 outbreak.

On another matter, Chong said DAP MP Lim Lip Eng was naive for asking MCA to declare the amount of money the party has contributed to Chinese schools.

He said MCA has been helping Chinese schools for many years and it was absurd for Lim to make such a call.

“He is a big laughing stock. We have helped many Chinese schools with the party’s money. I would like to challenge DAP to reveal the amount of its donations to Chinese schools in the last five years,” he said.