KUALA LIMPUR, Dec 2 — The Selangor Fire and Rescue Department said that a widely shared video of a group of students sitting for their Al-Quran and Fardu Ain class (Kafa) assessment test in a flooded classroom took place at Sekolah Rendah Agama (SRA) Sungai Balak in Kajang two days ago.
Its director Norazam Khamis confirmed the incident to Free Malaysia Today (FMT) yesterday and acknowledged that the religious school was located in a low-lying area that was often hit by flash floods.
He said the incident occurred after water levels started rising at around 4.30pm on Wednesday due to the heavy rain in Kajang which lasted for over an hour.
“The flooding affected a total of 64 11-year-old pupils who were sitting for their UPKK under the supervision of eight teachers,” he was quoted saying.
Norazam said the flash flood situation was brought under control and there were no untoward incidents.
He added that the water later receded at about 7pm.
Norazam said that the water level had earlier reached 0.6 metres in the areas around the school.
Meanwhile, Harian Metro reported that a mother of a pupil involved in the incident said that she had expected the school to be flooded every time there is heavy rain.
“When it rained heavily yesterday, I had already expected that the school will be flooded as it has occurred before this.
“I found out when the video (of the flood) was shared by an Ustazah in the school's WhatsApp group,” said Kartini Adris, who is a housewife.
Kartini explained that her 11-year-old daughter, Nur Humairah Nazri, had to sit for her UPKK test in a flooded classroom.
"That is right, my daughter was one of the pupils involved in the incident that happened on Wednesday.
"I saw the video in the school's WhatsApp group on the way home from the hospital,” she told the Malay daily.
Earlier, Kartini who is also a housewife uploaded the video of the incident on TikTok.
The video shows the pupils completing their test questions when several women, believed to be school’s teachers, were seen collecting the answer sheets.
The UPKK is held to assess the level of Primary Five pupils in the areas of Al-Quran studies, Ulum Syariah (Aqidah and Worship), Sirah, Adab (Islamic civics), Jawi and Khat as well as Basic Lughatul Quran.
