PETALING JAYA, July 25 — Shouts enveloped SK Seri Pristina as the presence of Deputy Education Minister II P. Kamalanathan did little to pacify the crowd.

The primary school — which turned infamous after pictures of students eating in the changing room made its rounds on social media — hosted the deputy minister and several representatives from the state Education Department and Education Ministry in a bid to clear the air.

Despite strong police presence, a group of individuals created a ruckus as they refused to accept Kamalanathan’s explanation over the fiasco. The deputy minister, nevertheless, offered no excuses over the incident.

“The school has guidelines. Obviously, they didn’t comply,” he said.

“We hope this serves as a lesson to all schools to take appropriate and timely action.

“I understand that sometimes we are pressured to take immediate action, but we must ensure it is accepted by all,” he said.

Kamalanathan also said that the issue had been resolved.

“I would like to take this opportunity to say I am sorry. We will make sure things like this will not happen again,” he said.

He later revealed the parent-teacher association (PTA) had in fact agreed to the changing room being used temporarily since the school’s canteen was unable to accommodate its 13,000 students.

“The headmaster’s intentions were good, to find a place to put tables and chairs for the children to sit and eat. Unfortunately the location was not ideal.”

Officials from the Education Department and the ministry visited the school on Tuesday and immediately shut down the temporary canteen.

“The temporary canteen (in the changing room) has nothing to do with religious or racial issues. This decision was made in March. Since then, it has been used by students of all races.

“Only several non-Muslim students were seen in the pictures as this is the Ramadan month and the Muslim students are fasting,” said Kamalanathan.

He had also received a letter from the school requesting additional funds to renovate the canteen and pledged a personal contribution of RM10,000.