The religious subject, Tahfiz would potentially be made a national subject, said Education Deputy Minister Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi.

He said a study on streamlining the subject curriculum was in the final stage.

"The government is aware that many public religious schools are reluctant to register with the ministry because of concerns that the subject curriculum such as tahfiz would be restricted," he told reporters after presenting the RM100 school assistance to 1,165 students of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Bentara Luar here today.

He urged public religious schools to register with the ministry to enable their students to get the school assistance.

"Not only that, if they register with the ministry, their teachers would be absorbed as permanent employees with a fixed salary and pension after we trained them," he said.

According to him, many of such schools in Penang and Kedah have registered with the ministry.