Students deserve safe learning environment, Suhakam says after tahfiz school fire

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 ― The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has called for the children to be offered a safe learning environment, amid concerns over the dismal condition of religious tahfiz schools.

After a pre-dawn blaze that killed 21 students and two of their teachers yesterday, Suhakam expressed its shock that the school was allowed to operate even when it has failed to comply with health and safety regulations.

“Suhakam reiterates that if actual learning if to occur, the learning environment for children must be environmentally and psychologically safe,” Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Razali Ismail said in a statement.

“Children, as well as their teachers and support staff deserve to be in a safe learning environment. They have a right to be safe from accidents and potential dangers.”

The commission said the tragedy is a reminder that religious schools must be regulated by the Ministry of Education to ensure adherence to procedures for setting up the school, fire, life safety and building codes, as well as certification of school premises.

“Suhakam is of the view that the Government must be in a position to determine, put in place mechanisms, and regulate safety and security aspects of all educational Institutions.

“Suhakam finds it unacceptable that the school was allowed to operate without having complied with safety and health standards and regulations; including an inspection by the Fire and Rescue Department,” Razali said.

The fire at the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz school in Kuala Lumpur is believed to be the deadliest since the 1989 fire where 27 female students of a Kedah tahfiz school were killed in their sleep.

The Islamic religious boarding school’s building reportedly lacked a certificate to declare it fit for occupation, and the school had also yet to be granted approval by the Fire and Rescue Department to start using the building.

It was reported last month that the Fire and Rescue Department had recorded 211 fires at tahfiz schools throughout the country from 2015 to 2017, with RM1.4 million worth of losses in the first three months this year alone from fires at around 30 Islamic religious schools including tahfiz schools, pondok schools and madrasah.