He said many parents were now sending their children to Islamic schools for their academic results and holistic teaching, but that entry rules favoured high-performing students, leaving the weaker ones with fewer options.

This had led to students who performed poorly to be transferred to secular schools.

“Parents have realised that the curriculum of religious school greatly helps in students’ development,” he told the Dewan Rakyat during the debate on the 13th Malaysia Plan. However, he did not provide any data to back his claim.

Zakri said underperforming students were concentrated in primary and secondary schools, while religious schools had “made leaps in achievements”.

The former teacher also called for physical education to be made a compulsory pass subject in public exams, saying it was often treated as secondary and was therefore poorly supervised.

He said some PE classes were replaced by other subjects or were handled by untrained staff.

“Sometimes classes go on without a teacher’s supervision … the class is conducted half-heartedly,” he said.

Zakri also asked why Bahasa Melayu was not emphasised as a core subject in the 13MP, saying the education ministry seemed to give more weight to English instead.

“In the 13MP, Bahasa Melayu is not elevated as an important subject, instead English is elevated by the education ministry,” he said.

He warned that if Malaysians could not speak the national language fluently, it would be a failure of the education system and erode patriotism.

Zakri, who is also a former school dormitory warden, spoke on the recent Zara Qairina Mahathir case, urging the education ministry to ease wardens’ heavy workload and improve hostel management.

He said wardens worked around the clock with little rest and were often blamed when problems arose.

“Wardens work 24 hours a day, yet they are still attacked by the public. It is not easy to control all the students,” he said.