PETALING JAYA: Religious affairs minister Na’im Mokhtar has denied claims the government has ordered hundreds of tahfiz schools in Selangor to close down.
Na’im said these claims were false and aimed at inciting unrest among Muslims.
In a statement, he said guidelines for tahfiz schools in Selangor were enforced in 2021 to ensure the safety and well-being of the students and staff, in view of the fire at a tahfiz school in 2017 that claimed 23 lives.
He said the state association representing tahfiz schools, which has 478 member schools, had cooperated with the guidelines’ enforcement.
“Since 2021, the Selangor Islamic religious department (Jais) has stipulated that all tahfiz schools must meet the registration requirements under the guidelines that were issued.
“A grace period of two years was given to these schools. In this period, Jais issued advanced registrations for schools to give them the opportunity to obtain a response from the relevant agencies (over adherence to the guidelines).
“Therefore, claims that tahfiz schools were ordered to vacate their premises are totally false,” he said.
According to Utusan Malaysia, there were claims that Selangor was shuttering the operations of hundreds of tahfiz schools.
The state government had also denied the claims and said Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah wanted all tahfiz schools in Selangor to be registered with Jais.