A total of 455,929 candidates are sitting for the three-day Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination which starts today even though some of them had to wear face masks due to the haze.

Education Minister Mahadzir Khalid said they sat for the examination in 8,134 examination centres nationwide being supervised by 49,655 examination staff.

Nilai, Bukit Rambai, Port Dickson, Batu Muda in Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, Malacca City and Banting recorded unhealthy air quality this morning due to the haze which was caused by forest fires in a neighbouring country.

The UPSR examination encompasses subjects for Malay language, English language, Mathematics, Science, Chinese language and Tamil language.

Many among the public are closely observing the security level for the UPSR examination papers given that there were leaks in the English language, Mathematics, Science and Tamil language subjects in the UPSR last year that resulted in the candidates having to re-sit for these papers.

In Terengganu, there was 202 candidates with special needs, while seven others sat for their examination in hospitals.

A Bernama survey revealed that Muslim parents took the opportunity to recite prayers while their children sat for their examination.

Negri Sembilan Education director Kalsom Khalid said five candidates were visually impaired, with three of them using Braille while the other two used the closed circuit camera method to take the UPSR in the state.

In Sabah, state Education director Jame Alip said, as at this morning, no examination centre was reported to have any problems related to floods or flash floods in view of the current unpredictable weather experienced in the state.

Labuan Education director Mistirine Radin also inspected the situation to ensure the smooth running of the examination, including venues to store the question papers.

- Bernama