ALOR STAR: Kedah Religious Department (Jaik) will brief all the 131 religious schools in the state on a federal plan to better regulate their operations next week.
Its director Datuk Abdul Rahman Ismail said the public and private schools, included 63 tahfiz and 21 pondok schools in the secondary and primary levels.
He said Jaik would engage imam to identify unregistered schools to facilitate briefings for them.
“There are many private schools in Kedah but we do not have the actual number unless they are registered with us,” he told the New Straits Times today.
Rahman said the briefing would focus on the safety aspects and school syllabus.
He said the department welcomed the proposal by the federal government’s task force led by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to review and improve operations of private religious schools nationwide.
Rahman said registered schools were entitled to receive various form of aid so that the school could be better managed.
He said the assistance also included preparing the school syllabus and ensuring the safety of the school and students.
He said the process to register a private religious school took about one month if it met all the requirements.
He said registered private religious schools used their own syllabus and syllabus used by other public schools.
“We understand that tahfiz and pondok schools focus on Islamic studies but they need to balance them with other knowledge,” he said.
On Tuesday, Zahid announced that among the six-point suggestions agreed by the task force was a proposal to amend the Education Act 1996 (Act 550) to enable the government to coordinate the administration of tahfiz schools and ease distribution of financial aid.
He had said the Act could also be amended to ensure compulsory registration of private religious schools, including tahfiz centres.