PUTRAJAYA: Parents should not use religious schools especially tahfiz centres (Quran memorising schools) ) to avoid the responsibility of providing their children with religious education, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa (pix).
Understanding the constraints posed by work as among the factors for the trend, Mujahid, however, said the core of children’s education was not in the hands of teachers but started with parents who could be used as role models who were looked up to by their children.
‘’No need to send our children to religious teachers to learn to pray, we teach them ourselves at home.
‘’We don’t have to tell our children to memorise the ‘doa’ only in school, parents must take the initiative to teach the children themselves. The parents’ touches are not the same as those of teachers,’’ he said when launching the Sekolah Integrasi Rendah Agama Jawi (Siraj) Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud at Precinct 11, here today.
Mujahid said the prolific growth of private religious schools and tahfiz centres ‘like mushroom sprouting after rain’ was a result of the trend.
‘’There are also parents who look for a school where, if possible, their children don’t go home, to solve their problems. They hope to fetch their children from school at the end of the week and impatiently wait for Monday to send their children back to school,’’ he said.
Mujahid said some quarters took advantage of the high demand for Islamic education and tahfiz by profiting from the setting up of tahfiz centres but overlooking the establishment of good school curriculums.
As such, the National Tahfiz Council, which was expected to be set up next year, would ensure quality, acreditation, teachers and curriculums at religious schools especially tahfiz centres nationwide followed the mainstream curriculum.
On Siraj Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud, Mujahid said the schools received 700 applications but only accepted 111 year one pupils for the first intake next year.
He said the RM5.4 million school, which was fully financed by the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council, (MAIWP) has 24 classrooms housed in a four-storey building.
Siraj Abdullah Ibnu Mas’ud is the fifth Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) integrated primary school after four were set up in Kuala Lumpur. — Bernama
