Registration of tahfiz schools is key, says Fuziah

Deputy minister defends their right to exist but says parents should take efforts to check on the schools before enrolling their children.

Tahfiz schools (also known as madrassah) are private schools that provide a Quranic-based education. (Bernama pic)

Fuziah Salleh.

PETALING JAYA: A deputy minister has defended the existence of tahfiz schools, saying the problem lay in that many such schools were not registered, and parents did not check on the schools before enrolling their children.

The deputy minister, Fuziah Salleh, suggested that an oversight body be set up to monitor conditions in tahfiz schools, and that parents be made aware of the need for them to take precautions.

A parent-teacher council has also concurred with oversight of tahfiz schools (also known as madrassah), which are private schools providing a Quranic-based education.

The future of tahfiz schools was called into question this week when former information minister Zainuddin Maidin questioned the need for such schools. He said they should be closed for not being beneficial to the future of the new generation of Muslims.

Questions about safety standards in tahfiz schools were raised after 21 pupils and two wardens died in a fire at the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah school in Kampung Datuk Keramat, Kuala Lumpur, last September. Two teenagers have been charged with murder.

Fuziah, who is deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said official guidelines were already in place for the curriculum of tahfiz schools as well as fire and building safety standards.

However, many such schools were not registered, posing problems of monitoring them.

Fuziah said the curriculum guidelines, prepared by Jakim, the Malaysian Islamic Development Department, provided a pathway for tahfiz school pupils to obtain tertiary education.

However, some tahfiz school operators took advantage of parents who did not take the effort to check on the schools before enrolling their children.

She said an oversight body on tahfiz schools would also have problems in monitoring unregistered schools. It would be more practical to raise awareness among parents about the importance of sending their child to a registered tahfiz school.

Last year, the previous government was reported to be studying proposals for tahfiz schools to be brought under the education ministry.

However, the chairman of the National Parent-Teacher Association Consultative Council, Mohamad Ali Hassan, said private schools (which included tahfiz schools as well as independent Chinese schools and international schools) should be allowed to maintain their independence.

“These schools shouldn’t be abolished but improved. Let’s look at the weaknesses in safety, management, auditing and curriculum and work on them. We can give them leeway to be different, but essentially, they have to be in line with the aspirations of the nation.”

Independent schools should not be forced to come under the ambit of the education ministry but the government should require that annual reports be submitted on their finances, management, and activities.

An oversight body comprising representatives of the government and the different independent schools could monitor such schools for environmental safety, quality of teaching, curriculum and other matters, he said. Independent schools would provide parents with a choice and also encourage healthy competition among the different school systems. -FMT