Madrasah students will no longer have to pay national examination fees for religious subjects.
This was announced at the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore Workplan Seminar on Saturday (Apr 18), about a month after examination fees were waived for madrasah students’ academic subjects.
The cost, expected to be S$25,000 annually, will be borne by the Madrasah Fund.
The fund was set up in 1994 to raise the standards of full-time madrasahs. There are currently six full-time madrasahs in Singapore.
The initiative, which starts this year, will benefit around 70 ‘A’ Level students and 350 ‘O’ Level students.
The three religious subjects that will be funded are Islamic Religious Knowledge for ‘O’ Levels, and Islamic Jurisprudence and Islamic Theology for ‘A’ Levels.
“Since the Government has promised to assist us to waive, for example, the fees for the national exams which involve only secular subjects, for madrasah students who also undergo examinations for religious subjects, we thought it’s best that we also equalise that as much as possible,” said Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, and Communications and Information Minister.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
