By SIRA HABIBU

Fire extinguisher among items presented by Soiman (second from left) to pondok religious school students at an event. - Bernama pix

KOTA BARU: Out of the 228 religious schools inspected by the Fire and Rescue Services Department so far, 76 have failed to meet safety requirements.

"We are inspecting the schools in stages. So far we have inspected 228 and found that 152 of them have adhered safety standards, while the rest have failed," said Department deputy director-general Datuk Soiman Jahid.

He said that they were in the process of inspecting 2,428 religious institutions nationwide, and notices had been issued to those which failed checks to take immediate measures to meet safety requirements.

He said this at an event organised by the Kelantan Islamic Religious Council on Tuesday to raise awareness on safety in the wake of the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz fire that took 23 lives.

The programme attracted more than 700 religious school operators.

Soiman said they would send a full report to the Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Ministry on Oct 19 after carrying out checks on all registered and unregistered institutions nationwide.

He said stern warnings would be issued to those who failed to provide alternative fire exits.

"Cooking areas should not be too close to living quarters. We have inspected the schools and given appropriate advice. Overcrowding should not be allowed," he said.

The 2,428 religious institutions comprises 1,209 Sekolah Agama Rakyat followed by tahfiz (929), and pondok schools (290).

The public have also been urged to provide information on religious schools in their localities as many are unregistered.