Madaris to get new curriculum: minister

ISLAMABAD: The federal government and Ittehad Tanzimat Madaris Pakistan have decided that Madaris will have new curriculum and the Federal Board of Education will be responsible to conduct exams of compulsory subjects in Madrassas and issuing their consolidated results of Matric and Intermediate levels.

Addressing a press conference, Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood on Thursday said that on the basis of this decision, the Federal Board of Education would award certificates to successful candidates of Matric and Intermediate level at Madaris.

He said that this decision would help students of Madaris to go and get admission in

any college or educational institution of their choice as earlier they had to face problems due to having Madrisa certificates and issue of validation of their certificates.

Now on receiving certificate from the federal government, they can avail job opportunities and other options. He said that there was a plan to establish a Religious Education Department in the Federal Board of Education.

He said that the government and Ittehad Tanzimat Madaris Pakistan, a federation of the five Waqfs (seminary boards) had unanimously agreed to start coordination through the federal ministry of education, in order to improve the standard of education and assisting the Madaris in addressing their issues.

The minister said that the administration of these Madaris would be responsible to conduct exams of religious subjects of their students besides compiling of results of Islamic subjects.

Shafqat Mahmood said that now students of Madaris would have more career opportunities and they could join even defence forces, become doctors, engineers etc. He said that the main objective behind this exercise was to streamline these Madrassas while the government would offer full support to the registered seminaries to open their bank accounts and other issues.

He said that the Ministry of Education would set up 12 regional centres in different parts of the country to facilitate the registration of the Madaris and other support including assistance for their foreign students.

He said that it was already decided that all Madaris would be registered through approved registration form. He added in case of failing in registration of Madaris, the federal government would close down such Madrassa.

He said that there was a basic obligation for all Madaris to avoid involving in spreading hatred and sectarianism otherwise their registration would be cancelled. He said that few decisions were made in last meeting with Ittehad Tanzimat Madaris Pakistan on May 6 while remaining decisions were made in today's meeting with their leadership.

He made it clear that the government was not taking over Madaris but it actually started assisting Madaris keeping in view their effective role in the society. He said the government was diligently working to introduce a uniform curriculum for all educational institutes of the country and negotiations were going on with religious seminaries, with respect to the system of examination.

He said that depending on availability of funds, the government would also financially assist these Madaris. He said that there was no need to involve in politics by Madrassas and they should focus only on their primary objective of imparting religious education.