Don’t disturb Pasti kindergartens, PAS warns govt

PAS has warned Putrajaya not to disturb Pusat Asuhan Tunas Islam (Pasti) kindergartens owned by the Islamist party.

This comes after the government announced its decision to streamline the preschool education system and have its coordination handled by a single ministry.

PAS spiritual leader Hashim Jasin said his party is monitoring any efforts that are made to interfere with or disrupt Pasti, which has been operating since the 1980s.

Hashim (above) said Pasti has gone through the development process without any problems since its establishment.

“In the context of Pasti, don’t disturb. PAS has managed it well since the 1980s and it has continued to grow rapidly without any issue,” he was quoted as saying by Harakah Daily.

“We will monitor if there is any effort to disturb Pasti and we need to see the direction of the system first,” he added.

Pasti now has 139,000 students with 2,680 premises across the country involving 9,002 teachers.

On Wednesday, government spokesperson Fahmi Fadzil said the cabinet agreed for the Education Ministry to run point on the matter to ensure that the quality of kindergartens is at par.

At present, several different preschool education systems are being used in the country.

In the government sector, three ministries - the Education Ministry, Rural and Regional Development Ministry, and National Unity Ministry - have been running separate kindergartens, while several state religious authorities also operate their own preschools. - Mkini