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Seeking Firmer Hold, Pakistan to Regulate Religious Schools
ISLAMABAD, Dec. 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Pakistani government is preparing a comprehensive policy to register over 6,500 religious schools and bring them into the mainstream educational system, a Pakistani daily newspaper reported Tuesday.
A high-level meeting, presided over by Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf on Monday, held in-depth discussions on a policy being framed by the ministry of religious affairs regarding more than 6,500
madaris [pl. of madrassa, or religious school] functioning in the country, an official told Pakistani daily newspaper, The Dawn.
"The strategy is being prepared and will be announced by President General Pervez Musharraf once it is finalized and approved," an official, who attended the meeting, said.
The paper said that Musharraf seeks to take care of the issue of "extremism", which the government claims is being harbored in these schools. Musharraf, the paper added, would hold a series of meetings with the officials concerned - including the provincial governors - in the coming weeks to finalize the strategy.
Participants of the meeting were given a breakdown of the religious schools being run by different sects and those receiving funds from foreign sources, he added.
An official study of these madaris, or religious schools, showed that more than 600,000 students were enrolled in them. It was decided that an audit of all the foreign-funded religious schools be carried out and a mechanism be evolved to keep track of funds received from foreign sources.
"Syllabi of these schools would be reviewed and a component of conventional subjects including Mathematics and English would also be introduced so that students of these schools could be gainfully employed after graduation,"
the Pakistani daily, Dawn, reported.
Religious boards would also be set up at the provincial level in all the four provinces, and would carry out examinations at elementary and secondary school levels.
Musharraf has directed the ministry of religious affairs and the Islamic Ideology Council to come out with new suggestions on 'modernizing' these schools by imparting English & other subjects there, reported the Dawn.
Chairman of the Islamic Ideology Council, Dr. S.M. Zaman said the new syllabus was being introduced to have a new system of education. "Initially, we will be establishing three model schools at Karachi, Islamabad and Sukkar to also impart new subjects in these
madaris," he said.
One of the pre-conditions for the registration of old and new madaris, which are bearing the religious education, food and lodging expenses of more than half a million students, would be the disclosure of their foreign and local funding sources, reported
another Pakistani daily based in Peshawer, the Frontier Post.
"A secret, prolonged investigation into the accounts of Deeni Madaris has provided the government with enough evidence to prove that at least 115
madaris of all sects in the country receive foreign financial assistance from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Libya, Iraq and Britain," the paper said.
"The government expects that the reigning in of the activities of the madaris, the religious students and the militant groups would pacify the U.S. concerns which has been pressuring Pakistan to check the
Jehadi groups even before September 11," it added.
Around 20,000 students in these schools are foreigners from Afghanistan, Central Asian and African states. The majority of the foreign students are from Afghanistan, who, the government claims are involved in militant activities once they graduate from these religious seminaries.
"The government is not going to wage a war against the madaris but the organizations involved in militancy would be banned," a source told
the Pakistani daily, The Nation.
The source said a series of meetings would be held to finalize a comprehensive strategy to rein in the elements involved in sectarianism and militancy.
"The religio-political parties will be free to operate but the government is concerned about those who are preaching hatred, violence and extremism," the source said.
The State Bank of Pakistan has access to information regarding huge transfers of money over the years from foreign countries, which were primarily intended for these
madaris but were diverted elsewhere, the paper added.
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