Najib acts on Twitter pictures of makeshift Tuaran classrooms

A Twitter campaign to highlight the sad state of affairs at a school in Sabah, which had to operate in makeshift classrooms, caught the attention of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Friday.

Pictures posted on Twitter, showing classrooms at SK Penimbawan in Tuaran using canopies, zinc roofs and plywood a year after a fire broke out there, led Najib to issue instructions to Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Ali Hamsa.

"TS KSN @alihamsa55 siasat & ambil tindakan utk bantu jika benar. Ini tdk patut berlaku (To Chief Secretary of Government @alihamsa55. Investigate and take action to help if true. This should not happen," Najib tweeted on Friday afternoon along with images of the school.

 The classrooms equipped with dirty chairs and table at the school

Ali later responded, tweeting that he would take immediate action on the matter.

"Salam YAB Dato Sri @NajibRazak. Perkara ini sedang disiasat dan tindakan serta merta akan diambil. Terima kasih. Dr Ali. (Salam Datuk Seri @NajibRazak. The matter is being investigated and immediate action will be taken. Thank you. Dr Ali," he said via @AliHamsa55.

Earlier Friday, the tweet handle #SchoolWithNoWall went viral and received many retweets, alerting Najib's attention.

The pictures attached to the tweets showed classrooms without walls and sparsely equipped with dirty, mismatched chairs and worn-out tables.

Although the floors are concrete there is nothing to stop the wind from blowing red earth into the classrooms.

In one of the pictures, a small wall fan is visible close to a white board. There are no ceiling fans.

The plight of the school also received a response from Kinabatangan MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin who called for swift action to help SK Penimbawan.