DG: No decision yet on placing religious, aided schools under one ministry
KUCHING: The Education Ministry and Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) have yet to finalise placing religious schools and aided schools under one ministry or whether to keep them as they are now.
Ministry of Education’s director-general Tan Sri Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof said this when asked on the latest development in the discussion between the ministry and Jakim on the registration terms of religious and aided schools during a visit and work party (gotong royong) at SK Merpati Jepang here yesterday.
The work party was part of ‘Jelajah Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia’ programme involving teachers, students and parents cleaning, repainting the school walls and making teaching materials.
“Religious and tahfiz schools fall under the jurisdiction of the state government and the religious council in the state. There are religious schools registered with the ministry but they are private schools, which follow the national co-curiculum. Other tahfiz schools have their own co-curiculums.”
Jakim is a central body whose role is to regulate institutions related to religion. Jakim does not have any schools of its own. ‘Fardhu ain’ classes held in the afternoon are run by the state government and the religious council of the state, and are sometimes held in government schools.
Tahfiz schools, where the students live in dormitories and ‘sekolah pondok’, do not come under the ministry, Khir said.
On a related subject, Khair said the ministry is paying full attention to safety issues involving students, especially those studying in dilapidated schools in the rural areas.
“State education director has presented the list of dilapidated schools to the chief minister and deputy prime minister last week. In the list, we included ways to develop and rebuild these schools, including the dormitories, teachers’ quarters, offices and other facilities.
Later, Khair launched the ‘Jelajah Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia’ programme at Plaza Merdeka aimed to reach out to the community and promote the programmes and services provided by the ministry.