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He said the allocation, under the Special Fund for Improvement and Maintenance of Schools as announced in Budget 2017, is aimed at empowering and strengthening the religious education institutions.
Of the RM80 million, he said, RM30 million was allocated for coordinating and developing tahfiz education through the National Tahfiz Education Policy (DPTN), the first of its kind given by the government for religious education.
“If it is the desire of parents (to send their children to tahfiz schools), then it becomes the government’s duty to determine that it not only remains as an option for parents, but an option that can produce successful human beings.
“Therefore, I have decided to approve the provisions to encourage the DPTN, which has been enacted to produce guidelines so that the development of religious education can be more structured and systematic,” he said during the ceremony held at Seri Perdana here.
The ceremony involved 819 recipients representing pondok schools, SMARs and tahfiz institutions from across the country.
Also present were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom and Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) director-general Othman Mustapha.
Najib said the government’s commitment to developing Islam and Islamic educational institutions was at its highest level, especially after the introduction of the Malaysian Syariah Index (ISM) in 2015, an effort to gauge the government’s seriousness in implementing national development based on eight principles of “maqasid syariah”.
He also announced an incentive of RM10,000 for private tahfiz institutions which were registered with the state religious authorities.
“The government is committed to developing Islamic educational institutions, and on special consideration, I would like to announce this special RM10,000 incentive, whereby the locations and method of distribution will be managed by Jakim,” he said.
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