Joint panel to supervise registration of tahfiz schools

Education ministry and Jakim will form committee to oversee terms of reference for the registration.

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PUTRAJAYA: The education ministry will collaborate with the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) to expedite the registration of private religious schools.

“A joint committee will determine the terms of reference for the registration of tahfiz schools under Jakim,” Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid said at a press conference today.

He said the committee would determine the teachers’ credentials and condition of classrooms and buildings, among others.

The plan follows a recent discussion with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom on how to speed up registration of these schools.

Mahdzir said private religious school teachers would be given training once they were registered.

Last Thursday, Mahdzir had announced that all tahfiz schools would soon be registered under Jakim for the government to better monitor them.

This is in line with the National Tahfiz Education Policy, proposed by Prime Minister Najib Razak last year.

The registration issue came up after the death of 11-year-old tahfiz student Mohamad Thaqif Amin Mohd Gaddafi, who died following alleged abuse at the hands of his school’s assistant warden in Kota Tinggi.

Thaqif, who had both legs amputated due to injuries suffered, slipped into a coma before dying in Hospital Sultan Ismail in Johor Bahru on April 26.

His death sparked widespread calls for an oversight body to register and monitor tahfiz schools.

Speaking to the heads of religious education institutes at a programme in Putrajaya today, Mahdzir said their leadership was the key to addressing the drop in quality in terms of academic and student development.

The decline in the average academic grades for national religious secondary schools (SMKA) and government-aided religious schools (SABK) last year was highlighted in a recent school achievement report.

The report attributed the drop to budget issues, matters concerning facilities development, as well as school management issues. -FMT