PUTRAJAYA: The Education Ministry is currently in the process of registering tahfiz and religious schools in the country.
However, there are some that are reluctant to register, fearing the ministry would interfere in the pedagogical aspect of teaching, said Deputy Education Minister Datuk P. Kamalanathan.
"The education ministry has registered many religious schools which voluntarily have come forward to do so.
"With these schools, we didn't meddle with their syllabus.
"We made sure that the schools registered under us go through safety and security inspections conducted by government agencies under the ministry," he told New Straits Times when contacted today.
Kamalanathan's comments came in light of the fire accident which claimed the lives of 21 children and two teachers at Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz school at Kampung Datuk Keramat, yesterday.
He said most religious schools were registered under the state Islamic departments as it falls under the state's jurisdiction.
"The main reason why they don't want or refuse to be registered under the ministry is because they want to continue to operate independently and maintain their standard syllabus," Kamalanathan said.
It was reported in May that there were about 270 religious schools registered under the ministry.
Kamalanathan said although the process of registering religious schools under the ministry was ongoing, it is the ministry's hope to make it compulsory.
The Education Ministry and the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) was reported to be working together to draw up guidelines for the registration of tahfiz schools after the death of 11-year-old Mohamad Thaqif Amin Mohd Gaddafi, who was allegedly abused at a private religious school in Johor.
Malaysia Tahfiz Students' Welfare Association president Datuk Mustapa Othman strongly pushed for the compulsory registration of tahfiz schools in the country.
"We strongly support and welcome this call because as far as I'm concern there are so many religious schools which are not even registered with the state's religious department. They don't have any licenses to run these schools.
"By registering under the ministry, we hope these schools' safety and security measures will be monitored from time to time, besides ensuring the students will receive basic academic education from the ministry. Students in religious schools are currently only taught Al-Quran recital.
"If the schools are monitored by the ministry, credible and experienced wiremen and technician will be appointed to look at the safety aspects, unlike the current situation where anyone can be hired without being verified if they are qualified or not to do the job," he said when contacted earlier.
Deeply saddened by the fire incident yesterday, Mustapha said religious schools in the country must shift to a more systematic and standardised operations with the help of the Education Ministry.
"We don't even know the actual number of religious school students in the country because most of the schools are not even registered.
"How are we going to monitor these students if they have left halfway from their course or move to another school?," he asked.