KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia faced mounting calls for stronger regulation of religious schools following a horrific fire at an Islamic boarding school that killed 23 victims, most of them teenage boys trapped behind the barred windows of their dormitory. The fire broke out at a tahfiz school where students learn to memorise the Koran. Muslim-majority Malaysia provides a secular education system, but growing conservatism has led to a boom in the number of Islamic religious schools, most of which are privately-run and not overseen by the Education Ministry. Others provide more specialised education, such as tahfiz schools and 'pondok' schools, where students are taught in small groups in tiny wooden huts, popular in rural areas. "There are some ustaz (religious teachers) who failed in their education but still opened their own schools without the right qualifications or training," he said.

Source: New Strait Times September 15, 2017 04:18 UTC