By Desiree Tresa Gasper

He did not burn the midnight oil for the PMR like his other studious schoolmates did.

So to avoid sitting for the exam, one desperate student resorted to burning a classroom that had been converted into an examination hall.

At least that's what the headmaster and teachers of SMK Johor Jaya 2 think, for they still have not caught the suspected arsonist who struck at about 6am Wednesday.

One teacher caught a glimpse of the culprit running away from the scene and smelled diesel believed to be used to start the fire.

The blaze completely destroyed a classroom located on the ground floor of a three-storey building which was converted into the PMR examination hall.

But that was enough to disrupt the examination.

The school's administration relocated 75 students to another classroom and carried on as firemen put out the fire within 25 minutes.

A police report was later lodged over the case of arson, the second such incident in the school over the past two years.

Johor's deputy Education Department director Markom Giran, said repairs were estimated to cost RM20,000 (S$8,198).

"We relocated candidates for the PMR to another classroom originally prepared as an A(H1N1) quarantine area," Markom said, adding that a total of 365 students of the school were sitting for the PMR.

He said a similar incident had also occurred in the same school during the PMR two years ago.

"A school workshop was torched. We believe that it was also the work of students who deliberately tried to stall the examination because they were not prepared," he said.

The person or persons responsible for the previous arson incident were not caught.

--The Daily Chilli