Madrassas to hold Matric, Inter exams

Ministry of Education, Ittehad Tanzeemul Madaris agree on registration of seminaries

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ittehad Tanzeemul Madaris (united body of seminaries) Pakistan have agreed on different matters including the registration of madaris (seminaries), which is another step towards adopting a uniform education system in the country.

According to the initiative, the religious seminaries will hold middle, matric and intermediate examinations under the concerned boards.

Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood said that uniform education system would soon be introduced in government and private schools and madaris, which would enable the students of seminaries to excel in various fields.

Addressing a news conference in the federal capital, minister for education said that negotiations on national curriculum with all stakeholders have been completed and the council was working on it.

He informed the media that national curriculum for grade I to grade V would be completed by March 2020.

The minister said it was decided with Ittehad Tanzeemul Madaris that those madaris who do not register according to the prescribed procedure will not be able to continue imparting education.

Mehmood said that the federal cabinet had approved a budget of Rs2 billion for a period of three years to set up 12 centres across the country for the registration of madaris and for bringing them in the national sphere.

He maintained that the uniform education system would open new avenues for the students of madaris and according to the new curriculum, they would be conferred degrees.

He further said that that the new syllabus would be competitive by all means as the government intended to make the students a good Muslim.

“A day will come when students competing on national level will not need O and A levels,” he said.

The minister said that every possible step was being taken to improve the education system.

“The Higher Education Commission will give Rs5 billion for scholarships. Most of the scholarships will be awarded to undergraduates,” he said.

Mehmood noted that the registration of seminaries, deciding curriculum and examination procedure had been agreed after a long consultation process and meetings. He thanked all the religious scholars for their contribution.

He said that those students who wanted to continue the religious education would be able to do so under Dars-e-Nizami and HEC would award them equivalence certificates according to the agreed procedure.