In the wake of the Peshawar school massacre, the government decided on Wednesday to formulate a curriculum for Madaris (Islamic seminaries) across the country.
“For this purpose, the first meeting will be held on December 30,” Minister of State for Education and Professional Training Balighur Rehman told The Express Tribune while talking about the ‘inevitable initiative’.
He said the government had been contemplating madrassa reforms for quite some time but after the December 16 bloody rampage at the Army Public School in Peshawar it decided to expedite the process.
Currently, there are five systems of Madaris in Pakistan, namely Wafaqul Madaris (Deobandi), Tanzimul Madaris (Barelvi), Wafaqul Madaris Pakistan (Shia), Rabtatul Madaris Al Islamia (Jamaat-e-Islami) and Wafaqul Madaris Al Salafia (Ahle Hadith).
The minister said that Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Yousaf would attend the December 30 meeting along with the secretary. The input of the Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training will be sought in the meeting.
The Advisory Committee formed in May 2013 comprises 20 members, including researchers, educationists and civil society activists. The meeting will recommend basic guidelines for the madrassa curriculum. “We will also take the seminaries’ bodies into confidence so that the process doesn’t die down like previous efforts,” he added.
In 2002, the then military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, had promised to register all Madaris in the country and undertook a Madrassa Reform Project to regulate the curriculum so that all seminaries adopted a government-approved curriculum by year-end. “But the initiative failed because Musharraf was not trusted by religious scholars and clerics as he was presumed to be a man with foreign agendas,” the minister claimed.
He said the incumbent government wanted the Madaris to include in their curriculum natural sciences, computer science and other contemporary subjects so that when the seminary student completed his degree he could contribute to the society and not confined to only religious education, or mosque.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2014.
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Surely there has to be something to eradicate the rotten eggs from the basket
Whosoever wants to reform religious schools in Pakistan has no clue what he or she is talking about and those who pledges to reform them are hypocrites. Nobody in Pakistan has guts to touch one brick of any madrasah, nor anyone would ever attempt it. These are only media statements which give hidden message that nothing would happen. The reason being that (look at the minister's face). there is a very little difference between the people who make curriculum for Madrasahs and those who make for government and private schools. For example Punjab University (every other institute has about same ratio) produces as many Taliban as any Madrasah would do. Asking Taliban to reform Taliban is not going to happen.
What about Extremist Wahabi teaching? Are they going to promise they are not going to teach that? If not, then it don't matter what curriculum you give them? You have to name "No Wahabism" in the contract! Now Why FazluRahman asked; "Finish Terrorists hanging first?" He knows; sooner or later we're going to hit a snag and this will be delayed for several decades or even a century in Future! Only Nawaz (His only Talent) has the charm to do it, without getting messy, really! God Help NS!
I do not think h'able minister has the credentials to reform Madrassas. It has to be with the assistance of members representing educated persons. Most Madrassas are source of income for the people running it and are situated on grabbed land. This is not a state secret. Ask any one if you really want to do the right job you will have tackle this mafia.
They should have poly technic training so they earn from work and teach religion voluntary
What centre be expected from education minister and his fellows with fake degrees products of rigged elections. What are the achievements of madrassah reforms committee during past few years? Mosques and maulvis should be brought into a regularised system and those not under the authority must be eradicated. Only qualified scholars should lead religious organisation and others should be criminally charged for trying to corrupt religion and misleading/deceiving people
India should also do the same. Another question that I never able to understand why Muslims prefer to study in Madras-as rather then free schools run by government? Because of foreign exchange many poor countries allows funding from Saudi Wahhabi.
What FIRST has to be done is the 10% madrassas that all agree provide support to extremists need to be shut down........by trying to reform the curriculum will cause the other 90% of madrassas to resist AND THEN NOTHING WILL GO FORWARD.......possibly that is why the government is taking this step.
@Ghulam: Sorry, The Buck Don't Count Here! You can't have a Chemical or Ammunition Factory near my house just because money came from somewhere else. What your money source got to do with my children's safety?
The government has no say in what the madrassas do because the madrassas don't take any money from the government. They are funded by the people. They provide free education to everyone which is something the government has failed to do. If not for the madrassas our literacy rate would be even lower than it currently is.
If the government wants to dictate their syllabi it will have to nationalize them or use violence against them. It will be a quite a challenge given that there are thousands of them throughout the country.
That's a lot of Madaris, but if they all agree on just One Thing First, all else will Fall in Place. That will be: "Spread of LOVE AND PEACE... F o r A l l. No message of hate or violence at any cost. Tolerance of other Sects and Acceptance of Diversity of Belief as a Natural Human Right. Because; Love breeds Love and Hate breed Hate. Above all: No one WINS when hate and rejection is promoted. Only Compassion and Respect is the cure of All the ills of a diverse society. "GOOD LUCK" PAKISTAN! We Can Do It for us and for the whole Ummah, InshaAllah!
hardliners are there in politics to counter you, wait
Here I found the extract:
"You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State."
Qaid E Azam's speech to the Constitient Assembly, in which he said people will be free to practise/worship whatever they want, should be made mandatory for ALL school kids in Pakistan. In fact, they should repeat that in the morning as part of the assembly.
There should be no discrimination on the basis of sex, religion or ethnicity. Pakistan should be an equal opportunity country.
Government has to STOP FUNDING from Iran and Saudi Arabia. We need to know who has been receiving these funds. It should be publically disclosed.
Unless hate preachers are jailed (or face financial penalties), they will continue.
So he is the man who is going to reform madrassas?