Dispute over allocation of more hours for religious education in school only views of some individuals - Idris

SHAH ALAM: Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Senator Idris Ahmad regarded complaints on Islamic Religious Education allocated more hours than lessons for core subjects in schools as the views of only some individuals.

He also found the complaint "strange" as the matter had never cropped up.

"However, it is normal in our large community (for some people to complain). Perhaps, it is because they don't understand or do not want to understand," he said at the opening of Madrasah Tahfiz OKU Ata 'bin Abi Rabah (MATAAR) here today.

He was commenting on a Tweet by a Malaysian father that was viralled on Twitter recently. The father was shocked to find out that his daughter's school has allocated more hours for religious studies and other related classes than for Mathematics and Science classes combined

Writing in a Twitter thread, the man posted a photo of his daughter's school timetable and said there were 5.5 hours of Pendidikan Agama Islam (PAI) and other related classes in a week than for Mathematics and Science, at 2.5 hours and 1.5 hours respectively.

-- BERNAMA