Make 18 minimum age of marriage, govt urged
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THE state government should take pro-active action in making 18 years old the minimum age of marriage.
According to Jemoreng State Assemblyman, Dato' Murshid Diraja Dr Juanda Jaya, marriages should only be allowed after SPM (Form Five) so that youths would have at least the minimum level of education.
"This is so that when they marry, they can find jobs .
"We see so many children who get married at 14 or 15 years of age and after having children of their own, they divorce and this brings social problems to the people.
"The government should protect the interest of their own people," he said during a press conference at the State Legislative Assembly in Kuching yesterday.
Juanda urged the state government to solve the issue of the lack of religious teachers in the state, especially in primary schools.
"500 is a worrying figure as we need that many religious teachers for both primary and secondary schools in the state.
"In addition to that, we in Sarawak already face problems in terms of infrastructure and now lack of teachers," he said.
Juanda said the state government should be open minded about this subject matter as they might temporarily need teachers from Peninsular Malaysia to help even out the numbers.
"But we will definitely check the background of these teachers because if they spread extremist views, then action needs to be taken.
"The question now is that even local teachers aren't enough and we don't want to compromise the students' education.
"In the end, we don't want teachers of other subjects teaching religious classes as it will affect the quality of teaching," he said.
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