Sitting for UPSR at hospitals

Kuala Lumpur: Two students with Influenza A(H1N1) symptoms are among the 517,908 candidates nationwide who will be sitting for the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah (UPSR) examination beginning today. (Tuesday)

Education director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom said preparations had been made for the two, one in Johor and the other in Penang, to sit for the examination in hospitals.

He said this was among measures taken to curb the spread of Influenza A(H1N1) among UPSR candidates who will sit for the examination at 8, 289 centres nationwide.

The Education Ministry had also allocated about RM5mil for items like masks, hand sanitizers and thermometres for UPSR candidates, he said yesterday.

He said an isolation room was also made available at all the examination centres to accommodate those who are found to have fever during screening which will be conducted upon their arrival at their respective centres.

Alimuddin said a total of 32,944 inviligators would be placed at UPSR examination centres this year.

Of the total 517,908 registered candidates sitting for the UPSR examination, 510,125 or 98.5% are from schools under the Education Ministry and the government-aided schools, while the remaining 7,7783 students or 1.5% are from private schools.

Meanwhile, there was no Influenza A(H1N1) death for the fourth consecutive day and the death toll remained at 73 since last Thursday.