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Only 40 madrassas of Islamabad enlisted in programme so far
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Seminaries lacking proper classrooms, facilities
ISLAMABAD: In order to bring the country’s religious seminaries in the mainstream education system, the federal government has enrolled hundred religious seminaries, to eliminate extremist tendencies, under the National Action Plan (NAP), it emerged on Tuesday.
According to details, 3,000 students enrolled in 100 madrassas across the country would learn modern subjects like science, mathematics, social studies and English as it will be included in the curriculum and made mandatory under ‘Mainstreaming of Madaris’ project of the federal government. It is in pursuance of Vision 2025 and NAP to eliminate extremist tendencies and arm the seminary students with worldly education, it has been learnt.
Pursuing Vision 2025 and NAP, the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFEPT) are all set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) over already introduced primary education in 100 seminaries located in Islamabad (ICT), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and FATA.
A senior official of interior ministry requesting anonymity told Pakistan Today that the basic objective of the project is to introduce modern education system so that students can learn latest techniques in the modern era.
According to the official documents, initially, only 40 religious seminaries in Islamabad have initiated giving primary education to their students to enable them to pursue further studies in colleges and universities and to ensure a competitive edge in the job market for employment. These 40 madrassas do not include any from Lal Masjid or Jamia Hafsa affiliated madrassas which are accused to be breeding grounds of extremist mindset.
“Giving modern education to the students of seminaries at their initial stage will ultimately eliminate extremist approach and will help to produce well-educated individuals fit for both worldly and religious duties,” said an official of ICT.
The Ministry of Interior wrote to the capital administration to verify that the 40 enlisted madrassas have no links with banned organisations. ICT administration, in this regard, has written a letter on Tuesday to the special branch seeking their report on the matter within three days to confirm if any of these madrassas enlisted in the programme are under the watch list of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) or have any links with prohibited organisations (i.e. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Al-Qaeda, Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA), ISIS etc.), and accused of ‘terror funding’.
As soon as the special branch furnishes its report, a MoU will be signed by both FDE and NCHD, probably within this month.
According to further details, 40 seminaries have been established in Islamabad, 25 in FATA, 15 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 20 in AJK. “500 more madrassas would be enrolled in this project by the end of 2018,” said an official privy to the development.
As per the unsigned draft MoU, and modus operandi, between FDE and NCHD available with Pakistan Today, it is stated that FDE would have six responsibilities including provision of free textbooks for the students of these madrassas as they are to be operated by the nearby government schools, issuance of registration number/silsila number to all enrolled students, monitoring of these madrassas, administration of teachers, conduction the annual exams through staff of the nearest government schools, and giving technical support to NCHD, if required.
Monitoring of the ongoing project in these madrassas would help the authorities to keep strong vigilance on the other activities in madrassas to curtail extremism.
On the other hand, NCHD would notify a district steering committee to meet on a monthly/quarterly basis, or whenever found necessary to monitor the progress of the project. The committee would be chaired by DG (NCHD) with members, focal person (FDE), focal person (CADD ministry), focal person (MoFEPT) and Madaris Project secretary in-charge.
Nine other responsibilities include social mobilisation for identification of establishment of madaris schools in Islamabad, facilitation in monitoring visit of madaris schools, carrying out a periodic assessment of the students, training of the madaris teachers to ensure minimum dropout, and developing recording and reporting formats for progress sharing with all concerned.
Furthermore, sharing the progress report of the project activities with FDE and the other two ministries, ensuring that the enrolled students qualify the minimum learning landmarks, sign MoU with all madaris (individually) for smooth running of project activities, and provide financial assistance to madaris teachers (Rs12,000 as honoraria) are also among the responsibilities.
The 40 religious seminaries located in Islamabad and enrolled in this project include Darul Uloom Muhammadia, Jamia Masjid Ayesha Siddiqa, Madrassa Taleemul Quran, Madrassa Ashraful Uloom, Jamia Jalalia, Madrassa Ziaul Uloom, Darul Uloom Ziaul Quran, Jamia Ghousia Rizvia, Jamia Rehmania, Jamia Nazeeria, Idara Noorul Imaan, Saddiqatul Anwarul Quran, Jamiah Ghousia, Madrassa Maraful Quran wal Sunnah and some others.
It is important to mention here that neither new infrastructure has been constructed, nor basic facilities have been provided for studying purposes like classrooms, playgrounds, libraries etc. for the students to these madrassas, but only chairs have been provided to some seminaries.
“Some enrolled madrassas have arranged rooms. Others are using open spaces and have no option but to study without any basic facility. All this shows that young students are eager to study modern subjects,” said an official of NCHD.
This project is sponsored by FDE and executed by NCHD. Under this programme, 3,199 students –between the ages of 5-11 years – will get a chance to study modern education in their respective madrassas along with religious courses countrywide. So far, only 941 students have been enrolled in the 40 madrassas of Islamabad only.
This project was proposed by MoFEPT on December 2, 2014, and approved by Departmental Development Working Party (DDWP) on May 6, 2015, costing Rs50 Million. This was a three-year project (July 2015 to June 2018) which can be extended for another two years.
It is noted that during the last four-and-a-half years, the federal government did not open any new school in Islamabad but a number of madrassas cropped up in the capital.
According to a survey conducted by ICT administration in early 2017 on the direction of the then interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan after a spike in terror activities in the country, the number of seminaries in the federal capital stood at 374, out of which 205 were unregistered.
Interestingly, the religious seminaries (374) outnumbered the capital’s 348 educational institutions (191 primary, 60 middle and 97 high schools). However, 43 higher secondary schools, which are generally considered as inter-colleges, are not included in the list of schools.
The religious seminaries belonging to four schools of thought are operating in Islamabad with the Deobandi’s topping the list followed by the Barelvi’s, Ahl-i-Hadith and Shias.
A source said that over 25,000 students were pursuing education in the 374 madrassas having boarding facilities. The source said that around 12,000 students belonged to Islamabad and the remaining were from other cities and towns.