By Syauqi Jamil
KUALA LUMPUR: There are roughly hundreds of tahfiz schools located in the capital that have failed to register themselves to date.
Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad said its hard for the government to keep track and monitor the wellbeing of these unregistered schools.
“We don’t know as they are unregistered. If they are unregistered then how do we monitor. We were told that there are roughly hundreds in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.
Speaking in a press conference after officiating an event here, Khalid said the main reason behind Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) action to close down all unregistered tahfiz schools in the city was to protect the welfare of children studying there.
He said upon registration, DBKL will be aware of their existence therefore is able to inspect the infrastructures, equipment and the safety of the schools.
“At least we’ll know they exist, we know how many students they have, who are the teachers, the management as well as their facilities and risks. We want to ensure these schools have quality.
“This is not to simply close down the schools. We want them to register so that we are aware, hence able to help and monitor. We don’t want these schools to be built on hazardous or unhealthy environment.
“I’m puzzled as to why there are parties who objected to this. Do they want all this fly-by-night tahfiz school to exist and doesn’t abide by any rules and guidelines?” he said.
Khalid added, although some of the schools may not fulfil all the requirements, upon registration, they will be assist by DBKL towards achieving all the required criteria.
He also advised parents to be more cautious and send their children to registered schools, so that they are sure their children are in good hands.
Over the weekends, it was reported that a principal of a tahfiz school in Kepong was arrested following allegations of sex abuse involving nine victims aged between 11 and 16.
The school was later found to be operating without a licence.
