The schools at Desa Kencana Felda village reopened today after being closed for a week due to the intrusion of the self-styled Sulu army, but only half of the students were seen attending classes.

At SMK Desa Kencana, all the classes were half-full as the parents and students are still worried that they might be endangered by the intrusion.

NONE “Maybe they are afraid, the parents may still feel a little ‘traumatised’, so they have yet to send their children to school”, said school principal Zamri Pehakan when interviewed by Malaysiakini today, adding that the school has 1,883 students.

He also said that some of the students are still at the Embara Budi relief centre, thus affecting the attendance for the reopening day.

Desa Kencana is located some 15km away from Kampung Tanduo and Tanjung Batu, where clashes between security forces and the Filipino militants have taken place.

NONE According to Zamri (left) , parents in the Felda Sahabat area send their children to this school after finishing their studies at the respective primary schools within the area.

Deputy Education Minister Mohd Puad Zarkashi announced three days go that 57 schools in Lahad Datu and Sempora, which had been temporarily closed following the intrusion by Sulu gunmen, will be reopened today.

Zamri noted some of the teachers, either from other places within Sabah or from the peninsula, have yet to return to their posts.

“This is because they didn’t know when the closure was going to end. Now some of them are on the way (back to school) because they were only notified three days ago. They need to buy (flight) tickets,” he added.

NONE Mufah Muludlan ( right ), an arts stream Form Five student of SMK Desa Kencana, said that she missed the school so much after the unexpected one week off.

She said that she spent her time in studying and watching television to follow the developments about the intrusion during the break.

“I’m not afraid any more because I believe that the security forces will protect us,” she said when approached by Malaysiakini .

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