One month to inspect registered religious schools - JBPM

The Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) needs at least one month to inspect all registered religious schools (maahad tahfiz) in the country.

Without disclosing the exact number of registered religious schools, its director-general, Datuk Wan Mohd Nor Ibrahim said the department needed to update the Cabinet from time to time on the matter.

At the same time, he said, the department was facing difficulty obtaining information and finding unregistered religious schools in the country to inspect their premises for safety features.

"We urge all parties, including the Islamic Religious Departments to provide information on unregistered schools to prevent a recurrence of the (recent tragic) incident at the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah residential religious school.

"We admit there are difficulties. This is because there is no list of the unregistered schools in the records of the Islamic Religious Departments, and (as such) we need time," he told reporters after the opening the Ringlet Fire and Rescue Station by Pahang Housing and Municipal Committee chairman Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail here on Monday.

Meanwhile, Wan Mohd Nor said 15 new fire stations, including the one in Ringlet had been and would be operating this year.

The Ringlet station is the 23rd built in Pahang and serves the Ringlet area, Perak border (Tapah Road- Cameron Highlands); Lipis (Jalan Sungai Koyan-Cameron Highlands) and the orang asli villages in Mukim Ringlet and Mukim Ulu Telum.

-- BERNAMA