CII demands jihad verses in proposed public school curriculum

The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on Tuesday expressed serious concern over non-inclusion of verses relating to jihad in the proposed syllabi for public educational institutions.

The concerns were raised during a meeting of the CII presided over by Maulana Muhammad Khan Sheerani.

The Federal Education and Professional Training Ministry had earlier finalised its proposed curriculum for public educational institutions, making a strong pitch for all federating units to introduce teaching of the Holy Quran as a compulsory subject from grade 1 to 12.

Last month, Minister of State for Education Balighur Rehman had finalised a proposal which required teaching of the holy book as a compulsory subject from grade 1 to 12.

The final draft of recommendations was submitted before the top religious advisory body for review. However, on Tuesday, when the CII took up the matter, it was found that the ministry did not include verses of jihad in the proposed curriculum, which irked the members who demanded the government include those verses in the syllabus.

“484 verses of jihad are mentioned in the Quran but they were deliberately not included in the syllabus so students could not be taught about it,” CII member Maulana Zahid Qasmi said.

“I personally conveyed my reservation over the proposed draft,” added the member who believes the verses should be included in the curriculum.

According to the proposed draft, recitation of the Holy Quran would be taught from grade one to grade 5 and proper Quranic education with translation would be taught to students of grade six to grade 10 in all public schools.

“Within five years, students will be able to recite all of the Quran as it will help reduce the burden of parents who hire a Quran teacher or send their children to religious seminaries for this purpose,” it further said.