PASIR GUDANG: Johor government is not ruling out the possibility that it was bird droppings that caused the pollution at the SK Tanjung Puteri Resort school here.

State Health, Culture, and Heritage Committee chairman Mohd Khuzzan Abu Bakar said the school had been facing this problem in the last five years and some of its classrooms had not been used for a long time.

“We are not saying that there is no gas pollution issue.

"But we have to look at this (bird droppings) as one of the contributing factors that led to some of victims in the school having breathing difficulties and vomiting," he said when met during a visit to the school on Tuesday (July 23).

Johor Education, Human Resources, Science and Technology Committee chairman Aminolhuda Hassan said he hoped the Education Ministry would act at once to solve the issue at the school by clearing up the droppings and repairing the broken roof tiles where birds were nesting.

“It will take time because the class is located on the third floor, but we hope that it can be dealt with quickly so that these pupils here can use their classroom again,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mohd Khuzzan said classrooms located on the third and fourth floors of all schools around here had been reopened since Sunday (July 21).

“The closure of classrooms are taken due to gas detection, but as of today, we have yet to receive any report regarding the students health issues,” he said.

On Monday (July 22), nine new cases of breathing difficulties involving eight students and a teacher in Pasir Gudang were reported.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the victims from four schools around here were treated as outpatients at Pasir Gudang Health Clinic.

He added that the victims were from SK Tanjung Puteri Resort (three students), SK Kopok (two students), SK Taman Rinting 3 (two students and a teacher), and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pasir Gudang (one student).