TAHFIZ AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOL STUDENTS RISK BEING SIDELINED FROM MAIN STREAM EDUCATION SYSTEM – ALIMUDDIN

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 (Bernama) -- A large number of students from private religious institutions, particularly maahad tahfiz (Tahfiz schools) and pondok (traditional religious schools), face the risk of being sidelined from the mainstream education system as many do not sit for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.

Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) Pro-Chancellor, Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom, stated that this situation limits their opportunities to pursue further studies at public higher education institutions (IPTA).

Consequently, proactive measures must be taken to ensure they are given equitable opportunities to further their education at the university level, especially as current trends show many parents are increasingly inclined to choose private religious education for their children.

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"Currently, there are 1,540 religious institutions nationwide with approximately 79,000 students. The issue is that a large portion of students in these private religious schools do not take the SPM for two reasons: first, the primary vision and mission of tahfiz schools is to produce huffaz (memorisers of the Quran); second, they face a lack of funding," he said.

He spoke during his keynote address at the Empowerment of Malay Education Convention at the Kuala Lumpur World Trade Centre (WTCKL) today.

The event was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, and UMNO Secretary-General, Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.

In an effort to further empower graduates of tahfiz and pondok schools, Alimuddin proposed that all public universities (IPTA) provide specialized programmes.

"Students may still be able to master subjects like Bahasa Melayu, History, and Islamic Education through self-study. However, for subjects like English, Mathematics, and Science, teacher guidance is essential.

"Therefore, it is suggested that all IPTAs provide special programmes or foundation courses for tahfiz and pondok leavers. At the end of these studies, they can be evaluated, and if their results are good, they can be absorbed into the mainstream academic flow," he added.

Alimuddin, who is also a former Director-General of Education, noted that this is not impossible to implement as several institutions have already provided special programmes for tahfiz leavers, including Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS), Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL), and Malaysian Polytechnics.

--BERNAMA: