INTRODUCTION

The title of the article reviewed is The History of The Institutionalization of Peoples Religious Schools in Malaysian National Education Policy . It is written by Azizi Umar, Ezad Azraai Jamsari, Nazri Muslim, #assan, Azwira Ab. Aziz and Aminuddin $asir. an !ul"ifli an This research studies the

%ro&ress of institutionalization of the 'eo%le(s )eli&ious *chool +*A), shows that it is loaded with diverse challen&es to be in the national education system. The main measures that have been ta"en are the creation of the laws of financial assistance, the ac-uisition of administration, the foundin& of Lembaga Penasihat Penyelarasan Pelajaran dan Pendidikan Agama Islam +.E'AI,, the state Enactment /oordination, the uniformity of the Malaysia )eli&ious #i&her /ertificate +*TAM, and the latest re&istration of the *A) as the 0overnment1 Aided )eli&ious *chools +*A$2,. The researchers discuss the history of the develo%ment of 'eo%le(s )eli&ious *chool +*A), institutionalization and studyin& at the e3tent of the differences and the strate&ies as well as the mana&ement im%lications for every ste% ta"en. The document analysis and interviews have been used as the methodolo&ies in this study. This study finds that the %rocess of an event continues in the way of the historical theories. The %rocess only differs from several as%ects, yet the &rounds for the chan&e remain the same. The society needs to learn the lesson from what has ha%%ened from what has ha%%ened and ta"e it as a &uidance to overcome the challen&es in future.

DISCUSSION

The discussion on the 'eo%le(s )eli&ious *chools +*e"olah A&ama )a"yat or *A), institutionalization in the national education %olicy covers four ma4or cate&ories, which are %ower institutionalization, curriculum, human resource and finance. It could be concluded as in Education Act 5675 which affected in 5678, it %rovides the authority to the Minister of Education to consider assistance &iven to Islamic non1&overnment reli&ious schools, with the condition that the schools are commonly with the educational laws and only %re%are reli&ious education. In 5669, the education act enactment brou&ht consolidation in creatin& education act laws to the *MA) when they are retained in the new education act namely 5667 Education Act. The authors be&in the discussion of institutionalization in the as%ect of finance, as this as%ect serves the very first ste% of the *MA) first bein& u%&raded to form a fraction of the needs of the institutionalization to be &ranted financial hel% as soon as the country achieved its inde%endence. The assistance is &iven for the %ur%ose of the teachers( salary, allowance and school e3%enses. *A) at the %rimary level only receive assistance in the form of money while at the secondary level +*MA),, they receive the assistance in term of money as well as te3t boo"s. :;< of the total %er ca%ita for every school is dedicated for teachers( salary whereas the other 8;< is for school e-ui%ment related to teachin& aids +Malaysian Education Ministry 5667,. Throu&h a decision by the /abinet, the ac-uisition of the *MA) started on the 5st January 56:: to&ether with other *tate )eli&ious *econdary *chools (Sekolah Menengah Agama Negeri or SMAN). This effort is to fulfill %arents( intention as well as reli&ious teachers( association and several Islamic bodies. There were 58 *A)s and *ANs administered by the Ministry of Education. As in the 4urisdiction, the establishment of reli&ious schools is not in the hands of the =ederal 0overnment but it needs the a%%roval of the state reli&ious authority. The main ob4ective of this ac-uisition was to %rovide an o%%ortunity for students to not only learn the reli&ious and Arabic lessons even to &ain enou&h national education. The status of teachers( incumbency was affected by the ac-uisition

of the *A) in 56::. It caused %roblems when they were converted to &overnment schools. A lot of teachers had not been able to be assimilated into the &overnment schools due to non1e3istent basic -ualifications. Their e3%eriences as the founder, %rinci%le, administration board member and teacher are not a &uarantee in the incumbency selection %rocess. #owever, with the current develo%ment and the evolvin& %olicy, for the authors what ha%%ened in the %ast has chan&ed now. As the outcome of the flaws and com%le3ities faced by the Ministry of Education in mana&in& the *MA), the &overnment %ro%osed that there must be another or&anization in coordinatin& and mana&in& the school. )esulted from that .emba&a Penasihat Penyelarasan Pelajaran dan Pendidikan Agama Islam (LEPAI) was finally established and endorsed by the )oyal /ouncil in 56>8. .E'AI was res%onsible to coordinate and assist in the *tate and 'ublic )eli&ious *chools or any reli&ious schools that had not been run by the Ministry of Education. Accordin& to the .E'AI re&ulation, it has a role of coordinatin& the Islamic education and learnin& in *tate )eli&ious *chools and 'eo%le(s )eli&ious *chools in Malaysia. It covers from the %ers%ectives of the -uality of education, learnin& and career o%%ortunities, teachers trainin& and counselin& to Islamic *tate ?e%artments +JA2IM, 56>8,. The very first action ta"en by .E'AI is to ma"e sure reli&ious schools are stron&ly %rotected from the le&islation, es%ecially the state(s own le&islation which is also the main source of 4urisdiction to the *MA). This coordination can be assumed to be a smart measure and should be %raised as the *MA) is &iven valid authority in the state enactment that had been so much different from one another. ?ue to the differences, the *MA) had been easily ne&lected when there was a clash of conflict amon& various %arties involved. Amon& the content of the clauses in this enactment was the )e&istrar, *chool Mana&ement $oard, )eli&ious *chools Enactment, Ins%ector, Account, Mana&ement Method letter and other matters relevant to res%ective states. $efore the enactment was made effective, most *MA)s move in the name of

Majlis Agama Islam Negeri (MAIN) Enactment or the self1formulated re&ulation by the local community in the name of the *chool Administrator $oard. *tartin& form the year 5666, Al1Azhar al1*harif made an a&reement of understandin& with the 0overnment of Malaysia in coordinatin& various ty%es of reli&ious certificates in Malaysia. The Malaysia )eli&ious #i&her /ertificate +*TAM, has similar value as A(liyah $u(uth Al1Azhar as a condition of entrance to further studies. The reli&ious sub4ects in the *TAM are considered as the credit for students( enrollment into reli&ious faculties in the local universities. =urthermore, it can also be used to enter faculties other than the reli&ious faculty in local universities, such as science social and the li"e. The re&istration %rocess of the *MA) was made after @A$ 'rime Minister at that time, ?ato( *eri Abdullah $adawi a%%roved it. There is a re%ort "nown as the Tan *ri Murad *%ecial /ommittee which su&&ested that the *MA) was to be re&istered with the Ministry of Education, enablin& the &rantin& of a better assistance. This ste% ta"en is to im%rove the education -uality for that %articular school. Accordin& to the Ministry of Education(s record, nowadays, there are 59A from 8>; in total. The schools can be cate&orized into twoB 9A of %rimary level and 5;8 of secondary level. The secondary schools can be cate&orized into four ty%es which are 'ublic )eli&ious *chool, the *tate )eli&ious *chool +owned by the state &overnment and state Islamic reli&ious council,, *tate 0overnment1 Aided )eli&ious *chool +*A$2, and /ommon *econdary )eli&ious *chool +no curriculum of the Diniah or the al-A har curriculum,. In fact, this number indicates that only A;< are re&istered as Ministry1s%onsored 0overnment1aided *chools +?an&iran, C;;>,. In fact, it is not the re%ort alone su&&ests ma"in& *MA) as &overnment1aided schoolsB it also had been %re%ared by the Ministry of Education since 5667. ?ue to several factors, the %ro%osal of re&istration had been delayed +Malaysia Education Ministry, 5666,. The assistance %er ca%ita had been terminated based on the e3cuse that the *MA) had not used the allocation in the best way they should. Then, Tan *ri Ahmad Murad forwarded a

re%ort which su&&ests the re&istration of the *MA) as 0overnment1Aided *chools based on the 5667 Education Act. )esultin& from this re&istration, the *MA) not only re&ained the %er ca%ita assistance, but they are also entitled to &et other ty%es of aids. Until C;;A, it can be concluded that all efforts of institutionalise *MA) had been com%leted as it had under&one all as%ects of *MA) develo%ment such as finance, %ower, human resource and the curriculum. #owever, not all as%ects succeeded im%ressively. 'erha%s, from other as%ects, it has shown small success but success in term of %uttin& the %osition of *MA) as mainstream schools, has not achieved any %ositive outcome, but seemed to have met with failure and abandoned, as com%ared to other national streams of education. Throu&h a memorandum, the a&reement for the re&istration was sealed between both %artiesB *tate 0overnment and =ederal 0overnment. $oth %arties %lay their own res%ective roles. There are still worries and doubts amon& *MA) administrators and state reli&ious authorities, es%ecially where the %ower of administration and curriculum involved. #owever, the re&istered *MA) e3%erienced some chan&es, from human resource, facilities and infrastructure. It needs to be hi&hli&hted that the most si&nificant a&reements achieved between both two %arties were the retainin& of the Diniah sub4ect curriculum in *MA). It is mana&ed continuously by the state reli&ious authorities and the *MA) administrators until the =ederal 0overnment is &iven that authority. The re&istration %rocess im%lemented seemed to be fail in term of receivin& full coo%eration from the state reli&ious authorities and the *MA) administrators. The main %ur%ose of this re&istration is only to &ain full %er ca%ita assistance and ca%ital assistance from the Ministry of Education. The assistance covers school mana&ement, the %rinci%le(s salary, the teachers( salary, sub4ect %er ca%ita and other &overnmental assistance. At the same time, the school and its com%ound were still owned by the school mana&ement board as well as the Diniah sub4ect curriculum could be retained as such. $ased on the issues

mentioned earlier, they lead the authors to two si&nificant conclusions. =irstly, any effort to institutionalize the *MA) has seemin&ly a%%eared to fail due to various constraints and %roblems, %articularly in both mana&ement and develo%ment %rocess. *econdly, since early inde%endence, there were two authoritative %arties in the administration of the *MA). In addition, anu authorization led to two conflictin& inter%retations. The first %arty com%rises of the state &overnment authorities, the reli&ious council and the *MA) administrators. =or decades, those %arties have validated %ower and authority ownershi% in handlin& and determinin& the %olicies for the *MA). The second %arty is the Ministry of Education, .E'AI or JA2IM. It re%resents the =ederal 0overnment in hel%in& and mana&in& %art of the *MA). JA2IM was &iven the administration authority by .E'AI and it succeeded in determinin& the %olicies of the *A) com%ared to the Ministry of Education. ithin the C9 years %eriod of .E'AI establishment, they mana&ed to systematically establish the *MA) where basic as%ects are concerned li"e the le&islation and the certification. That is com%ared to the Ministry(s lon& standin& effort in %rovidin& assistance althou&h the duration of the assistance e3ceeded 9; years.

CONCLUSION To conclude, this study investi&ate the ste%s and history of the institutionalization of 'eo%le(s )eli&ious *chools and *MA) and their re&istration to be the 0overnment DAided schools so that it can be raised as mainstream

schools. There is no doubt, in im%lementin& the administration of *MA), there are failures and success. It could be said that both %arties have their own res%ective si&nificant roles to ma"e this become a reality. The Ministry of Education re%resents the =ederal 0overnment, in the other hand, the state &overnment authority is the other %arty which re%resented by .E'AI and JA2IM. Althou&h they serve under the federal &overnment, the e3ecutive %ower of im%lementin& the %olicy of the *MA) is in the hand of the state reli&ious authority. .E'AI serves only as a mediator for the =ederal 0overnment. In my view, the success of the institutionalization relies on the %arties in char&e in the %articular years. They have to ma"e sure not to re%eat the conflict occurred in the former years. =urthermore, the involved %arties have to %ut their every effort to stren&then reli&ious schools. Ether than that, the ?iniah curriculum which has been the identity of the reli&ious schools should be ac"nowled&ed to become the national curriculum, or at least a fraction of it. *ince this article is on the history, this could serve as the &uidance for the youn& &eneration to ado%t a careful attitude in ma"in& chan&e. =urthermore, this study is a%%licable to Malaysian scenario as it is "nown Islamic /ountry and Islam is its national reli&ion. In order to retain and stren&then the Islamic beliefs and teachin&s in our children so called as our ne3t &eneration, this issue of discussion should be considered in every as%ect from the administrators( affairs until the curriculum itself. The failure or conflict in the former years should not be re%eated in the ne3t years to come. The %arties involved should wor" hand in hand to ma"e this into a success.