In the 1989 incident, 27 female students at a private Islamic school in Kedah died in a blaze that gutted the school and eight wooden hostels.
Zahid, who chairs the newly established task force to investigate the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz school fire yesterday, said the team should review the recommendations from the RCI which had yet to be implemented.
“This is because incidents at tahfiz schools and religious schools can no longer be contained.
“We hope that the Pondok Pak Ya RCI’s recommendations and proposals can be used as guidelines for tahfiz schools and religious schools,” he said at a press conference after a TN50 dialogue on security at the Police Training Academy (Pulapol) here today.
Zahid said the first task force meeting on the tahfiz school fire would be held on Tuesday, and would involve the education minister and those in charge of religious studies, as well as enforcement authorities, local authorities, and the relevant agencies and departments.
The fire early yesterday resulted in the deaths of 23 people, mostly students.
Firefighters rushed to the scene and the blaze was put out within an hour, but not before it wreaked terrible devastation.
A fire and rescue department official at the scene said the blaze broke out in a bedroom before dawn, and firefighters from a nearby station had responded within minutes.
Zahid urged all quarters to refrain from speculating on the incident until a comprehensive probe on the incident is done.
Some quarters have claimed that the students were unable to exit the dormitory as there were two gas cylinders in front of the door.
Zahid also reiterated that tahfiz schools do not come under the purview of the federal government as they fall within the ambit of state religious departments and councils.