Tawfik Ismail, who was the MP for Sungai Benut between 1986 and 1990, said the Johor system was worthy of emulation by other states because it would ensure that children would receive sound religious education as well as exposure to secular knowledge.
He said secular knowledge was important because it would lead to the learning of skills that would be useful in adult life.
In Johor, religious education is compulsory for Muslim children aged between six and 12 and the schools are closely monitored by the state education department.
Speaking to FMT, Tawfik lamented that many Malay parents were sending their children to tahfiz schools that give only religious education.
He said the authorities must meet the challenge of convincing the Malays that the Islamic ideal calls for excellence in the life of this world without neglecting the hereafter.
Recently, Amanah communications director Khalid Samad told FMT he would like to see the government building more religious schools of a high quality and upgrading existing ones to an acceptable standard.
He said there was a shortage of such schools despite increasing demand from Muslim parents.
He was commenting on Titiwangsa MP Johari Abdul Ghani’s complaint that tahfiz schools were seen by some people as places for children with disciplinary problems or low academic achievement.
Khalid said the negative perception came about because there was a time when parents would send only their problem children to such schools.
Tawfik agreed with the view that tahfiz schools should not be places where parents dump their children for others to take care of.
“The very young children, especially, need parental guidance,” he said.