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Aggressive measures needed to protect kids in tahfiz schools

LETTER | The International Women’s Alliance for Family Institution and Quality Education (Wafiq) is very concerned about the rising number of cases of sexually abused boys in schools and tahfiz institutions of late.

We urge the state Education Department and religious authorities to take aggressive measures in monitoring and ensuring that the safety of children are given paramount importance.

The Coalition of National Tahfiz Institutions must initiate a taskforce to investigate the root causes of why these cases are occurring in settings which we least expect.

It is important to note that Wafiq unreservedly upholds and supports Quranic learning and memorisation.

However, in the current era of rank hypersexuality with globalised unrestricted internet pornography and the rising numbers of paedophiles, tahfiz institutions need to be more aware and much better trained to screen and monitor staff as well as students.

It is also crucial that every single student has recourse to make complaints and is fully briefed during enrolment to the institution on what to do should such incidents occur.

More frequent visits by parents should be allowed in tahfiz institutions. Parents must remain close friends and confidantes to their young children, especially when they are in a boarding school environment.

Similarly, it is important for parents to educate themselves on how to teach children about safe and unsafe touching at home, before sending their children to stay in dormitories.

Discussions on what is considered inappropriate physical touch should begin at home, regardless of where our children go to school.

While being respectful to teachers is still an essential element in any parent-teacher relationship, we must never drop our guard and we must keep communication channels with our children open at all times.


RAFIDAH HANIM MOKHTAR is the president of the International Women’s Alliance for Family Institution and Quality Education.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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