KOTA BARU, March 20 — The Education Ministry will decide tomorrow whether schools in certain areas will be closed due to the extremely hot weather, said its minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.

He said his ministry was monitoring the hot weather situation and yesterday, it was found that Kedah and Perlis recorded temperatures as high as 39.2 degrees Celsius.

“Today, we will look at the temperature situation in Kedah and Perlis and tomorrow we will decide whether schools in certain areas should be closed if the temperature continues to rise exceeding 39 degrees Celsius without any sign of dropping,” he told reporters after attending a gathering with principals and headmasters of schools in Kelantan, here today.

Mahdzir said a special committee at the ministry level chaired by the Director-General of Education Datuk Seri Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof would study and make a decision concerning the closure of the schools concerned.

He said his ministry was also getting information from time to time on the development concerning the extremely hot weather from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment as well as the Ministry of Science, Technologi and Innovations.

He said he had issued a directive for all activities outside the classroom to be stopped following the extremely hot weather.

Malaysia is now experiencing hot and dry weather caused by the El Nino phenomenon and the Malaysian Meteorological Department predicted that the situation will only end in May or June, with the hottest weather recorded today due to the equinox phenomenon.

Asked on the development concerning the solution to the problems of married teachers who were living apart from their spouses, Mahdzir said the ministry was resolving the problem in stages where the problems for 2,000 teachers had been resolved last year while up to this month, the problem for 560 teachers were solved.

He said the ministry had received 7,000 applications for transfers from teachers who wished to stay close to their spouses.

On candidates for the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) 2016 for the second term beginning in May and the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) for the July session, who were prohibited from bringing in the wristwatch into the examination hall, Mahdzir said he would seek a report on the matter from the chief executive of the Malaysian Examination Council, Dr Jamil Adimin.

Yesterday, Dr Jamil was reported as saying that the prohibition to bring in or wear the wristwatch in the hall and while sitting for the examination aimed to prevent cases of misconduct among the candidates. — Bernama