Religious schools in rural areas throughout the country may have to cease operation if the federal government continues with its suspension of the per capita grant to them. This will affect thousands of students both at primary and secondary levels

Most of the Sekolah Agama Rakyat ( people's religious school) or SAR are located in remote areas to cater for the children of local villagers who are mostly farmers or fishermen. These schools rely heavily on the federal grant for their daily operation.

The suspension of the federal grant which range from RM60 to RM150 per student will also cause the teachers' salary and allowance to be slashed drastically. Their pay is already very low compared with teachers in government schools.

Similar schools which are located in bigger towns may not have to take such a drastic step but they would feel the heat as the federal grant does help ease their financial burden which includes paying for electricity and water.

They might have to seek other recourse to cover the financial loss like getting the teachers and students to solicit public donations by selling books or calendars as what have already been done by some schools.

On Oct 25, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad threatened that the government will stop giving per capita grants to SARs after some of the schools were found to have been used for politics.

A great loss

He said the government took the decision to study the status of the schools to ensure they were genuinely teaching religion and will continue after they can identify "the true religious schools, (and) those with political connection".

Mahathir, who is also Umno president, said the government had found that some pupils of Sekolah Agama Rakyat had been taught to hate government leaders.

School warden Mohd Yusof Shoib of Sekolah Menegah Agama Rakyat Al-Hidayah in Kuala Kurau, Perak said the suspension of the grant made him worry about the fate of the 187 students in his school.

He said there is a high possibility that the school, established in 1949, and the only religious school in the district, will be shut down if the federal grant is discontinued.

He said the closure of the school would be a great loss for the villagers in the area as it managed to provide good education for students unable to enter government religious schools.

Despite its limited facilities and funds, the school managed to maintain 100 percent passing rate for both SPM and PMR and in 1992 their SPM results were the second best in the state, he said.

"Although we may not produce 10As student material, many of our students were able to further their studies in universities after completing their education here. Those who are weaker are able to obtain at least a certificate when they leave school," he said.

Allegations unfounded

He hoped the suspension would be lifted by the end of the year so that his school can continue to operate by the time school opens next year.

"We are already having financial problems which we would not be able to settle if we have to shut down. There is not much we can do about it. The teachers can find other jobs to survive but what will happen to the students?," he lamented.

He foresees that his students will face a lot of problems in re-locating to another school and some may even stop schooling if finding a new school is too much of a hassle for them.

Mohd Yusof also feels that the allegations against SAR teachers were unfounded and even if it were true, there may only be isolated cases which do not warrant a blanket suspension order.

"They should first identify the schools and teachers and punish them accordingly. Why must innocent parties like us who are only interested in providing basic education to poor people be affected as well?," he said.

A school principal in Tanjung Piandang, Parit Buntar said his school is surviving on the grants given by the Perak state government (RM60 per student ) and the religious department (RM24 per student ).

He said the federal grant of RM120 per student helped to pay for 50 percent of the school's operational expenses.

"Without the federal grant, we have to hit the streets to sell calendars to the public. We may have to ask the students to help us. We have to do this in order to survive," he said.

Only small number

Like Mohd Yusof, he too feels that the allegations against SAR teachers were unfounded saying that it is impossible for school teachers to teach politics to the students. He suspects that the allegations were concocted by irresponsible parties.

"I have been teaching for 20 years and have yet to meet a teacher who teaches his students to hate certain individuals. Even if there are students who expressed hatred for certain individuals, I believe the number is very small.

"Ths students must have been exposed to outside influence. Perhaps they were influenced by what they had listened in a "ceramah politik"," he said.

The suspension of grant is also affecting SAR teachers as 70 percent of the grant is allocated to pay teachers.

A teacher at Sekolan Menengah Agama (Arab) Darul Anuar, Pulau Melaka in Kota Bharu, Tengku Abdul Aziz said this year's income for him and his colleagues were heavily slashed due to grant suspension.

He said without the grant, teachers would have to survive on the allowance given by the state's foundation Yayasan Islam Kelantan (YIK) which provides monthly allowance between RM470 and RM1,000 depending on their qualifications.

"The school where I teach has about 1,500 students and the grant is RM60 for each student a year where 70 percent of the grant is allocated for the teachers' salary while the rest will go towards maintaining the school.

"From the federal grant, each teacher would get an extra income of about RM2,000 a year, which is quite a sum to us," he said, adding that the school usually is given the grant in September.

Ten subjects

He said students and teachers may have to help out the school to seek other recourse to cover the financial gap.

He also did not dismiss the possibility that some schools may have to close by early next year, particularly those relying heavily on the federal grant, if the suspension continues.

Like his colleagues in Perak, Abdul Aziz feels that the allegations against SAR teachers were baseless. Teachers would be too busy to discuss politics with their students as they have to teach both the formal and religious curriculum involving ten subjects, he says.

"I was told by an Umno friend that the accusations were made by the teachers who are not happy with Yayasan Islam Kelantan (YIK) for only reasons known to them.

"But now they would have realised that making such false allegations served no purpose to anyone as all are at the losing end," said Abdul Aziz who also expressed his hope that the federal government continues to provide the grant soon.

Kelantan state foundation, Yayasan Islam Kelantan (YIK) revealed that although the suspension was announced recently by Mahathir, the foundation was told early this year that the grant may be reviewed.

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Its education administrative officer Ahmad Abdul Ghani said most of the 71 schools which received the federal grant were quite upset upon hearing the news, as it was only last year that the government decided to increase the per capita grant from RM60 to RM90 a year for each student.

SAR schools have been in existence since 1940s offering religious education to children, It was only in the 1980s where some had expanded their operations to include the Education Ministry's curriculum.

Since the schools are financed by a committee made up of local residents, many face financial problems causing shortage of teachers and lack of facilities.

Despite the many setbacks, the religious secondary schools are popular among Muslim parents who want their children to have both formal and religious education.

Most of the government-sponsored religious schools have limited places and therefore only accept selected students who excelled in their UPSR.

Apart from the per capita grant, the schools also receive other assistance like text book subsidy.