ISKANDAR PUTERI, May 16 ― The Johor government has provided two additional cabins with classroom facilities to address alleged overcrowding at the Taman Pulai Indah religious school here, said a state official.
Johor Islamic Religious Affairs Committee chairman Mohd Fared Mohd Khalid said the state government took efforts to ensure religious schools were properly fitted as they were under its administration.
“The cabins are already 90 per cent complete with additional facilities and teaching equipment found in a regular classroom,” he said in a statement today.
Mohd Fared was responding to claims by Kota Iskandar assemblyman Datuk Pandak Ahmad who questioned the Taman Pulai Indah religious school’s student density.
Mohd Fared, who is also the Semerah assemblyman, said the Kulai district Islamic education office found that there was no overcrowding in the religious school’s classrooms as claimed.
He said it also did not find sign that classes were being conducted in corridors.
“Even if there is overcrowding at the school’s classrooms, the issue has been rectified by the allocation of the two additional cabins for temporary use,” he said.
Last Sunday, at the state assembly, Pandak claimed that the Kota Iskandar-based religious school had made use of the building’s corridor as a classroom due to overcrowding.
He said such a situation should not have happened and the corridor is definitely not conducive for teaching or learning.
In Johor, elementary Islamic religious education is mandatory for all Muslim school students in the state.
The religious schools, supported by the state government, operates after normal schooling hours.
