PUTRAJAYA: The Education Act 1996 (Act 550) could be amended to enable the Federal government to coordinate the administration of tahfiz schools and enable easier distribution of financial aid.
The Act could also be amended to ensure compulsory registration of private religious schools, including tahfiz centres.
This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi after chairing a two-hour meeting of a special task force on tahfiz schools.
He said these were among the suggestions raised to tackle safety issues at privately-run religious schools. The suggestions will be tabled in the Cabinet meeting tomorrow.
Zahid, who is also Home Minister, said the Education Act currently does not define schools which only teach religious subjects as ‘private schools’. This, he said, had resulted in many of these schools failing to register with the authorities.
“To make it compulsory for these schools to be registered, we must rope in and engage with the respective state governments first since Islam-related matters, including religious schools, are under them.
“We need to respect the state government’s authority,” Zahid said, adding that Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom has been empowered to engage with the state governments on this matter.
Currently, 941 private tahfiz schools with 9,470 teachers and more than 150,000 students are registered with Persatuan Madrasah Tahfiz Al-Quran Malaysia.
Zahid said 612 of these centres had registered with the state authorities. The rest, he said, had only registered as association members as they were afraid that the state government would take over the running of their schools.
Another suggestion that the task force had received was to have minimum safety standards implemented for tahfiz schools, orphanages, old folks homes and kindergartens. Also on the cards is a proposal is to encourage the setup of a volunteer fire and rescue unit at these premises.
Zahid said there have been 39 fire incidents with 56 fatalities involving tahfiz schools since the 1989 fire that killed 27 students of SM Taufikiah Khairiah Al-Halimiah, known as Pondok Pak Ya, in Yan, Kedah.
Zahid said the task force has also agreed to have a framework of criteria and standards set by the local authorities that must be met by private religious schools, including tahfiz centres.
The deputy prime minister said these recommendations would also be tabled before the Religious Affairs Council, chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today.
The special task force has also decided to form a permanent coordinating committee to monitor all religious schools including Sekolah Agama Rakyat and maahad tahfiz nationwide, said Zahid.
"The Islamic Development Department (Jakim) will be the secretariat of this committee.
"With this, I will now have 41 committees under me, all of which I am ready to take up the additional responsibility," he added.
He said the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) together with several parties including the Fire and Rescue Department and local authorities would conduct safety awareness campaigns.
The special task force was formed following last week’s deadly fire at the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz centre in Datuk Keramat, which claimed 23 lives.
Of the 23 dead, 21 were students.
Questions had been raised following the tragedy, including an alleged lack of fire safety measures in place at the school.
Eight suspects, all teenagers aged between 11 and 18, have been detained over the probe, following revelations that the fire could have been triggered by revenge. Police have classified the case as murder.