‘Inevitable initiative’: Govt seeks to reform madrassa curriculum
Minister says all stakeholders to be taken into confidence
ISLAMABAD:
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.
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.