Govt, clerics to discuss madrassas’ control on 6th

Participants of meeting will discuss curriculum for seminaries

ISLAMABAD: Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood announced on Friday that a meeting would be held on May 6 to discuss the issue of handing over the control of madrassas to the Ministry of Education.

The meeting will be attended by religious scholars of all schools of thought.

The participants will discuss the curriculum for seminaries and if a consensus is reached, the matter will be forwarded to the cabinet or the parliament.

“The authorities are preparing a process for bringing madrassas under the control of the Ministry of Education,” the minister told reporters.
Speaking on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif’s decision to step down as the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman, Mehmood said it appeared that the former Punjab chief minister was unlikely to return to the country.

“Shahbaz Sharif and his family have been clearly exposed in a money laundering scandal. He [Shehbaz] illegally transferred $226 million from abroad to his accounts,” he maintained.

“Now he fears embarrassment and that’s why he might not return.”
A few days ago, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said for many years seminaries were working under the Ministry of Industries, which did not make any sense.

Now the government has decided to place them under the Ministry of Education, he added.
Giving a background of seminaries in Pakistan, he said at the time of Partition, the country only had 247 madrassas. That number went up to 3,000 in 1980 and now swelled to 30,000.

However, he said out of the 30,000, only 100 or so seminaries were involved in promoting militancy.
“In February, money was allotted to bring the seminaries into the mainstream. To control welfare activities of proscribed organisations, the government has made a system to mainstream their social activities.”

The military spokesperson added that to bring madrassas into the mainstream, they will have to start teaching other subjects so that students have skills other than religious studies.

“All madrassas will be brought under the Ministry of Education so that contemporary subjects can be taught. We will formulate a syllabus which will not have hate speech and the students will be taught to respect different sects.

“The students will also receive a degree which will be associated with the education board.”

He said the mainstreaming had three phases. “The first is to prepare a bill which will be ready in around a month. The second phase requires training of teachers, and the third will be the implementation of the bill.”