11-yr-old boy dies after abuse at tahfiz school

Kuala Lumpur, April 26: A 11-year-old Malaysian boy, who suffered alleged abuse at an Islamic school so bad that his legs had to be amputated, died on Wednesday, state news agency Bernama reported.

The boy and other children had been whipped on the legs with a water hose by an assistant warden at their Islamic religious school in the state of Johor, just north of Singapore, district police chief Rahmat Othman said. Photos of him, legs blackened and swollen, were circulated online.

The boy was admitted to the hospital two weeks later, slipping into a coma after doctors amputated both of his legs to prevent the spread of infection. The assistant warden was arrested on Saturday.

“We are now waiting for the medical and autopsy reports from the hospital before taking further action,” Mr Rahmat said.

The case has prompted calls for closer scrutiny of tahfiz schools, where students learn to memorise the Koran. Such schools, child and education activists say, are mostly privately run and registered with state religious departments rather than the education ministry, which has strict guidelines on corporal punishment.

“To this day, we do not know who are actually in charge of regulating tahfiz schools,” Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, chairman of the Parent Action Group for Education, said.