ISKANDAR PUTERI, Sept 14 — The Johor Islamic Religious Department (JAINJ) has detected 266 private religious schools that have yet to be registered and approved by its Islamic education division.
State Islamic Religious Affairs Committee chairman Mohd Fared Mohd Khalid said the figure includes 213 religious preschools followed by 31 tahfiz schools, 12 sekolah pondok and 10 Islamic primary schools.
He said JAINJ is actively trying to provide awareness of their obligation to register as educational institutions for the preschools.
“For the tahfiz schools that want to be registered in Johor, the schools need to first go through several approval processes under the Control of Islamic Religious Schools Rules 1981,” he said during the one-day state assembly sitting held at Bangunan Sultan Ismail in Kota Iskandar here today.
Mohd Fared (BN-Semerah) was replying to Gan Peck Cheng (PH-Penggaram) who had asked about the number of unregistered private religious schools in Johor as well as the state government’s efforts to address the situation.
Mohd Fared explained that there are 15 mandatory processes or documents that were needed, including land ownership status, as well as certifications from the Health Department, Fire and Rescue Department, and the police.
In addition, he said they must have a permission letter to teach that is issued by the Syariah law division as it is one of the mandatory documents to ensure that teachers who teach in tahfiz schools have credentials.
“The JAINJ through the Islamic education division will continue to monitor and explain the registration requirements for unregistered religious schools.
“In addition, JAINJ is also prepared to assist if there are tahfiz schools that have constraints in obtaining approval from various parties,” he said.
Earlier, Mohd Fared said it was mandatory for all Johor state private religious schools to be registered under the Religious Schools Control Enactment 1991.
“From our review until July this year, a total of 215 private religious schools have registered, consisting of more than 7,000 students from 10 to 30 years of age.
“So far there are 37 private religious schools, including tahfiz schools, sekolah pondok, and Islamic primary and secondary schools are in the process of obtaining their registration, while some are in the process of completing their documents,” he said.
