‘RM50m for tahfiz schools insufficient’
KOTA BARU: The Kelantan government believes that the RM50 million allocation for tahfiz schools in the 2019 Budget is nowhere near enough.
Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah said while the figure might seem substantial, there was a large number of tahfiz and religious schools nationwide.
“The RM50 million may seem like a large amount. However, with the large number of tahfiz and religious schools in the country, each school will receive only a small amount.
“The government should not provide a blanket allocation of RM50 million for tahfiz, Chinese schools and Tamil schools.
“They should instead take into account the individual needs, as well as the number of schools. Many tahfiz and religious schools face drawbacks in terms of facilities and infrastructure.”
He said this at a press conference after attending the state executive councillors’ meeting at the state government headquarters here yesterday.
The 2019 Budget, tabled last Friday, saw the government allocating RM652 million for schools, compared with RM615 million for this year.
The allocation covers national schools (RM250 million), Chinese schools (RM50 million), Tamil schools (RM50 million), boarding schools (RM50 million), Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (RM50 million), government-aided religious schools (RM50 million), tahfiz schools (RM50 million), registered pondok schools (RM25 million), mission schools (RM50 million), national-type schools (RM15 million) and Chinese independent secondary schools (RM12 million).