PUTRAJAYA, Sept 17 — The government has channelled RM65,278,640 to 556 registered pondok schools, Sekolah Menengah Agama Rakyat (SAR) and tahfiz institutions through the Special Fund for Improvement and Maintenance of Schools.

Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) Director-General Tan Sri Othman Mustapha said the amount was from the total allocation of RM80 million as announced in the Budget 2017.

The religious schools comprised 129 pondok schools, 99 SAR and 328 tahfiz, he said in a statement here today.

For the record, a total of 129 registered pondok schools, 99 SAR and 591 tahfiz are eligible to benefit from the RM80 million allocation announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Othman said the process of channelling the remaining allocation to 243 tahfiz institutions was expected to be completed next month. — Bernama