Nasser Janjua reviews progress on seminary reforms

ISLAMABAD: National Security Adviser (NSA) Lieutenant General (r) Nasser Khan Janjua on Tuesday held a meeting to review the progress on reforms aimed at bringing the students of seminaries into the mainstream educational system.

Besides the Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousaf and Minister for Education Balighur Rehman, the meeting was attended by prominent members of Ittihad-e-Tanzeemat-e-Madaris Pakistan, including Mufti Munibur Rehman, Qari Muhammad Hanif Jalandhri, Muhammad Yasin Zafar, Maulana Abdul Malik, Maulana Niyaz Hussain Naqvi, Dr Syed Muhammad Naqvi, Dr Saeed Khan and high officials from the education ministry, Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE), a news release said.

Janjua gave a detailed presentation during the meeting and sought the comments of the participants on the different aspects of the roadmap developed so far to enable the students of seminaries to get absorbed in the mainstream educational system of Pakistan, which would afford them all the opportunities to join any profession.

Matters pertaining to curriculum, equivalence, examination system, procedures involved in the process of mainstreaming and strategy for further up-gradation of seminaries were discussed at length.

Availing the opportunity, representatives of seminaries pointed out that the process of registration was very slow and stressed that the provincial authorities concerned should expedite the process.

Points of agreement and disagreement were discussed in detail during the course of the meeting. The participants appreciated the progress made so far on the seminary reforms and reiterated their commitment to continue to work in unity to ensure that seminary students could avail the best educational opportunities.