Gov't never marginalised Islamic educational institutions during pandemic - Jakim

PUTRAJAYA: The government has never ignored or marginalised Islamic educational institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Department of Islamic Development Malaysian (Jakim) director-general Datuk Abdul Aziz Jusoh.

He said it could not be denied that several Islamic educational institutions faced difficulties to continue operations due to, among others, the constraints of management costs.

According to him, the government, through Jakim, had channelled RM60 million in aid to 1,066 institutions nationwide since early this year until August while RM244,400 were contributed through the Malaysian Wakaf Foundation-Jakim Musaadah COVID-19 Fund.

"Jakim is striving to help Islamic educational institutions in various ways to continue their operations for the sake of the children," he said in a statement today.

The statement was issued following allegations that the government had marginalised Islamic educational institutions, such as traditional religious schools (pondok), tahfiz and religious schools co-ordinated by the Islamic Education Co-ordination Advisory Board (LEPAI), during the pandemic.

On Oct 1, the National Association of Tahfiz Al-Quran Institutions (Pinta) of Pahang chairman Muhammad Abdul Salam Abdul Ghani said 30 per cent of the private Maahad Tahfiz in Pahang were set to close down as they could not afford to meet the cost of operations due to COVID-19 and the number was expected to rise if the pandemic dragged on.

Elaborating, Abdul Aziz said that since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, the government through Jakim, had always co-operated with the National Security Council and the Ministry of Health to ensure the safety of the Islamic educational institutions were assured.

He said the government had taken prompt action by carrying out screenings to detect and check the spread of COVID-19 among the Islamic educational institutions.

The government also took the responsibility to provide the standard operating procedures (SOP) to facilitate references and guide by institutions infected by COVID-19, he said.

With the assistance of the Ministry of Education (MOE), he said Jakim had published the Al-Quran and Fardu Ain Class Operation Management Guidelines and the Religious School in the New Norm as references for the Islamic educational institutions to operate.

-- BERNAMA