GAS PIPELINE FIRE: 128 STUDENTS, FIVE TEACHERS RECEIVE RM1,000 AID EACH FROM MOH

SUBANG JAYA, April 16 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Education (MOH) has disbursed financial aid of RM1,000 to each of the 128 students and five teachers from the 37 schools affected by the April 1 gas pipeline blaze in Putra Heights here.

Its Minister, Fadhlina Sidek said the assistance, supported by Yayasan Guru Tun Hussein Onn and Yayasan Didik Negara, is channelled to pupils and teachers from 21 primary schools and 16 secondary schools to ease their burden and to ensure there are no dropouts.

"At the ministry level, we not only focus on giving this (financial) contribution… but also academic and psychosocial support when they did not attend school previously, (they) received (assistance like) school uniforms as well as textbooks and stationery to continue their education,” she said.

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She said this after the presentation of the contributions for the Putra Heights Fire Disaster at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan USJ 23 here today.

Also present were Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh, MOH secretary-general Datuk Dr Aminuddin Hassim, Education director-general Datuk Azman Adnan, Education deputy director-general (Professional Development Sector) Dr Mohd Azam Ahmad and Education deputy director-general (School Operations Sector) Zainal Abas.

Yayasan Guru Tun Hussein Onn chief executive officer Zahirudin Mohammad Hanif and Selangor Education Department director Dr Jafri Abu also attended the event.

Fadhlina also stressed that the ministry will continue to monitor the victims’ needs from time to time, including providing post-disaster counselling for the students and teachers.

Meanwhile, Zainal said the ministry had activated its Smart Support Team, which comprised guidance and counselling teachers, to provide psychosocial support, and its Academic Support Team to support the education of the victims of the incident when they previously sheltered at the temporary relief centres. 

"We will continuously provide emotional support because this incident requires long-term intervention and we are certain that our guidance and counselling teachers are capable of helping the schoolchildren,” he said.

Asked about the ministry's commitment to ensuring no one misses out on receiving assistance, he said the disbursement of aid is streamlined with the Social Welfare Department's (JKM) list of registered victims when they were at the relief centres.

He also urged those who missed out on receiving the assistance to immediately contact the Selangor Education Department of the nearest District Education Office.

The 8.10 am April 1 blaze, involving a Petronas-owned gas pipeline, saw flames soaring over 30 metres high with temperatures reaching up to 1,000 degrees Celsius. It took nearly eight hours to fully extinguish the fire.

-- BERNAMA