PARLIAMENT | Over 90 percent of tahfiz centres operate without building approvals from the Fire and Rescue Department.

During the question and answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today, Housing, Urban Wellbeing and Local Government Minister Noh Omar revealed that only 80 out of 1,238 tahfiz centres have obtained building approvals.

Noh (photo) also noted a total of 252 tahfiz centres nationwide had failed fire safety inspections which were conducted from Sept 26 to Oct 17.

The move came after the widely-publicised fire at a tahfiz school in Dato Keramat, Kuala Lumpur, which killed 23 people. It was reported that 211 fires involving tahfiz schools also occurred between 2015 and 2017.

"During this period, all 1,238 tahfiz centres were inspected. Out of this, 986 tahfiz centres passed the fire safety inspection," he told the august house.

"We took action, a total 367 notices (were) issued to 83 tahfiz centres to eliminate fire hazards," he said, responding to Hee Loy Sian (PKR-Petaling Jaya Selatan).

The operators of the tahfiz schools were given 90 to 180 days to rectify their problems.

According to him, the country has 910 tahfiz centres registered under religious authorities and 328 unregistered.