Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said that this year’s RM30 million (US$7 million) budgetary allocation to tahfiz education (religious schools) will go wholly to upgrading infrastructure, and not on staff salaries.
According to Free Malaysia Today, on Monday the Deputy PM alleged that 80% of last year’s RM30 million went to directly to pay staff salaries, leaving only a fraction to be dispersed among other school needs.
A recent devastating fire at Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah that resulted in the deaths of 21 students and two teachers has called into question the safety and the adherence to regulations of many schools.
The financial ins and outs of religious school, accused by some as being rather grey and opaque, were national news this month after parents of the students at the school involved in the fire accused the headmaster of harboring over RM1 million (US$235,000) that had been given in donations.
As chairman of the High-Level Committee of Tahfiz Schools Special Task Force, Zahid has pledged personally to ensure that the money is funnel into infrastructure and facilities.
Yesterday’s reproach, at the opening of the Conference on Human Capital Psychology 2017, is hopefully a sign that increasing regulations are on the horizon.
