Time to act

According to some media reports, there are around 348 schools in Islamabad. The figure is exceeded by the number of madressahs which stands at 374. Out of these madressahs, 205 are unregistered. These figures show the laidback attitude of the concerned authorities to religious schools. It is discouraging to note that in the last four years, no new school has been established in the federal capital. On the other, a large number of unregistered madressahs have gone up. This irresponsible attitude of the authorities is prevalent across the country. Most religious leaders rile at the suggestion that madressahs are greatly responsible for faith-based violence. It may be true that a majority of madressahs are not promoting violent extremism, but the students that come out of these religious schools have very rigid and conservative mind set, which can easily be exploited by religious extremists.

Poverty seems to be the main boon for madressah enrolments. Poor parents prefer them over substandard state-run schools. Madressahs provides an extra incentive of free accommodation. The government has out sourced the important task of educating its future generations, to these religious schools for too long. Now with the scary results before them, the authorities should take charge of our education system.

Akbar Jan Marwat

Islamabad