The bill seeks to categorise Islamic schools as Islamic religious schools for the purpose of consistency.

It also seeks to expand the powers of the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council to regulate Islamic religious schools, to safeguard the interests of students and members of the public.

The council will be given powers to inspect these schools, and to take action as it sees fit to ensure the schools’ affairs comply with the amendments.

Clause 4 of the amendment bill also seeks to empower the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to make rules relating to Islamic teachings and learning on advice from the council.

Last week, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Fuziah Salleh said the government was looking at tabling a bill to ensure that all tahfiz schools are categorised as religious schools to ensure safety and legalise all such centres throughout the country.

She said all tahfiz and religious schools must be registered and follow state rules.

This followed the deadly fire which broke out at a tahfiz school in Kampung Datuk Keramat here in September last year. Twenty-three people died, including two wardens of the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah school.

The incident was described as the country’s worst fire disaster in the past 20 years.