The high number of teachers and students transferring from public religious schools (SAR) to national schools shows that the people have accepted the government's decision to stop providing financial aid to these schools, heard the Dewan Rakyat today.

Education Ministry parliamentary secretary Mahadzir Mohd Khir said before the assistance was revoked last year, the government allocated nearly RM30 million annually for the schools.

He revealed that in 1999, RM26.3 million was allocated, RM27.7 million in 2000 and RM31.6 million was given for the following year.

The government withdrew its aid after accusing opposition party PAS, which operates most of these schools, of sowing anti-government sentiments among its students.

Low returns

Meanwhile, Mahadzir told the House that despite the high allocation, the return was "very little".

"Revoking financial assistance prompted students to transfer to national schools," he said, attributing the positive feedback to the government's efforts to explain the matter to parents and students.

He also refuted PAS' claim that the government was ignoring Islamic education by terminating the financial aid.

"The issue was politicised and repeatedly played up and twisted by PAS," he said.

Mahadzir was replying to a question from Abu Bakar Othman (PAS-Jerlun) who requested for the amount of annual allocation and the impact on society following the withdrawal of financial aid.

Tame affair

In a supplementary question, PAS secretary-general and Yan MP Nasharudin Mat Isa said the move would undermine religious studies since compared to SAR, national schools don't focus much on them.

Responding to this, Mahadzir reiterated that the government does not ignore religious studies and added that it was the government which developed Islamic studies in the country.

"Now we have an International Islamic University and we also established several new Islamic studies faculties at local universities in recent years," he added.

As of the end of last year, there were more than 260 SAR schools with 74,000 primary and secondary students.

Following the revocation of financial aid, 15,000 students have transferred to national schools while it was reported that 1,300 teachers from these schools have also moved to the national schools.

The Dewan Rakyat sitting resumed today and proved to be a tame affair despite Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi being present during the question and answer session.