News

Islamic school in fight to stay open

AFTER years of legal wrangling and claims of past poor management, the Malek Fahd Islamic School is hoping to finally resolve the controversy around $11 million in State Government funding it received in 2014 and 2015.

In February, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal set aside a previous recommendation that the school pay back the money received over the two-year period while it was found to be operating on a ‘for profit’ basis.
However the Tribunal did recommend that the Minister for Education, Sarah Mitchell, suspend the school’s state funding until she was satisfied that they complied with all conditions for receiving the money.
A statement issued last week by the chair of the school board, Dr John Bennett, said they expected to provide the last of that information to the Minister by the end of the week, and were “confident of an outcome that assures the future of the school”.
“The information needs to satisfy the Minister that we comply with all governance requirements,” he said.
“It has been a long and difficult period for the school after the current Board set about sorting out the problems of the past.
“It is a relief that this matter will, therefore, soon be resolved.”
A spokesperson for the Education Minister says they take the funding issue “very seriously” but declined to comment further.