LABUAN, Nov 13 — The decade-old Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP) religious secondary school here will be officially taken over by the Ministry of Education (MoE) through the Labuan Education Department in January next year.

The religious secondary school in Kg Lubok Temiang started operations in 2011 with fewer than 50 students but now caters to more than 400 students from Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.

Labuan Education Department director Yusup Mohamad said the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the taking over was signed in June this year, and the school would be turned into a government-funded religious school (SABK).

“The operation is still in collaboration with MAIWP as the council is providing the existing school premises, with teachers coming from the MoE,” he told reporters after an engagement programme of the Executive Talk Council with the local media fraternity, Parent-Teacher Associations, village heads and People’s Representative Council (MPP) at a hotel here today.

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Yusup said all the 30 contract teachers in the MAIWP religious school would be absorbed as permanent-status teachers under the MoE.

“We have a long-term upgrading plan for this religious school by offering Form Six to students in the next three years, so that they have the opportunity to pursue higher education in Al-Azhar University and University of Jordan,” he said.

The federal government is set to build a religious secondary school in Kg Sg Bedaun here at a whopping RM65 million under Budget 2022. — Bernama

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