UMNO AGM | A national policy on tahfiz education should be formulated to empower tahfiz education in the country to ensure the future and direction of the tahfiz students, said an Umno delegate during a debate on the motion on religion and education at the 2017 Umno General Assembly today.

Mohd Nashrol Hisham Abdullah, a representative from Penang, said the move was also necessary to produce more professionals and technocrats who were huffaz or able to memorise the entire Quran.

He said the presence of nine Ulul Albab Mara Junior Science Colleges, including five that were under construction, and 30 Ulul Albab national religious secondary schools (SMKA) was a good development .

”Hopefully, the aspiration by (Prime Minister) Najib Abdul Razak to produce 125,000 huffaz professional can be realised,” he said.

Recently, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki (photo) said the National Tahfiz Education Policy would serve as a guideline for the setting up of tahfiz centres, including privately-owned ones, was in the final stage of getting the consent of the Conference of Rulers.

On addressing religious issues viralled on social media, Mohd Nashrol Hisham suggested the setting up of a portal and the “Da'ie Keyboard Warriors” by the party’s Religious Bureau.

Meanwhile, Wanita Umno representative Sharifah Maznah Syed Kassim Barakbah proposed that the Ulul Albab programme be expanded to fully-residential secondary schools, daily secondary schools, government-aided religious secondary schools and also primary schools.

The Alor Setar Wanita Umno leader also suggested a special formula be worked out to enable about 56,000 religious student, who are expected to be produced after the SPM examination in 2019, to pursue studies at institutions of higher learning.

Currently, there are only about 4,000 places at public universities for them, she said.

- Bernama