‘No one in charge’ leaves tahfiz school children in the lurch

Bernama pic.

GEORGE TOWN: A children’s rights activist said today that tahfiz centres have been given free rein and left unsupervised because government agencies are reluctant to take up matters which fall under Islamic administration.

The activist, James Nayagam, said the federal government had “not batted an eyelid” despite eight years of annual reports by the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) pointing out problems with tahfiz centres.

Nayagam said there are about 1,200 tahfiz schools in Malaysia, of which more than 500 are unregistered centres. Some offer boarding and child care.

However, no government agency or ministry had stepped up to supervise the affairs of these schools, which are set up under the state enactments on Islamic administration.

The civil bodies are reluctant to get their hands dirty, he said.

“These centres are all over the country and they are not under the supervision of the town or city councils, Welfare Department or any other outfit.

“We have been asking all the government agencies, who is looking after them. Shockingly, nobody could reply.”

Tahfiz schools were in the news this week when one centre in Sungai Petani was ordered to be closed as it was operating without permission and was believed to have used children to collect donations in the name of the religion.

In Shah Alam today, the Sultan of Selangor issued a decree ordering the closure of tahfiz centres which are unregistered and which lack a modern curriculum.

Nayagam told FMT that unregistered centres were not supervised on the children’s dietary intake, immunisation or even the education they received.

“In Suhakam, we used to discuss the wellbeing of children in such centres, with some being served just rice with salt. Worse yet, it is a ‘abang jaga adik’ system, instead of adult supervisors or staff taking care of them. This can lead to cases of violence and sex abuse.”

Nayagam said a fire at a tahfiz centre in 2017, in which 23 people died, was a sign for all authorities to buck up, but said no one had yet come up with a comprehensive plan on how to monitor such centres.

The Welfare Department should be the protector of all children and should use its powers to act on such centres without fear or favour, he said. The health and education ministries must also step in.

However, the department appeared to be apprehensive about rapping the tahfiz centres. “The law must apply to everyone,” he said. - FMT