The Pahang government is drawing up guidelines to be issued to maahad tahfiz (Islamic religious schools) in the state to protect the students'' welfare and interests, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob said today.

He said seminars and dialogues would be organised soon to gather ideas and views from relevant quarters, including tahfiz school operators and supervisors, for the formulation of the guidelines .

The state government, he said, had no intention of intervening in the administration of tahfiz schols by issuing the guidelines as the schools still had autonomy.

"Many set up maahad tahfiz for want of ''pahala'' (reward from God). That is good, but there are times, in competing to make good, some may overlook the basic things involving students.

"This is where we want to assist, hence the need to have guidelines, among others, on the curriculum, management, academic qualification of the teachers, supervisors, etc, as well as security aspect.

"We also want to prevent the spread of an ideology , like by the Daesh terrorist group which uses religion," he added.

Adnan told reporters this after a programme with principals of Maahad Tahfiz in Pahang at Masjid Hentian Putra here yesterday.

He said the Maahad Tahfiz Negeri Pahang (MTNP) should be a model for other tahfiz schools as MTNP has good governance and comprehensive curriculum to produce professionals who can recite the Quran, he added. - BERNAMA