The Institute of Pakistan Studies released a survey
report on Deeni Madaris on 28 March 09. It concluded that majority of Pakistani
madaris were perceived as catalyst to promote orthodox views. Their
affiliations with political, sectarian and militant organizations were major
cause of concern. It revealed that out of 251 madaris, 172 i.e. 67% had
political affiliations, 59 % attached with religious parties, 1 8 % with
sectarian or jihadi outfits and only 3 % with other mainstream parties. The
Devbandi and Jamat-e-Islami madaris were more inclined towards politics as 82 %
Devbandis and 100 % of JI madris had opolitical orientations. Te Brelavies, 27
% of them focused on politics while 78 % Ahie Hadith and 48 % Shia had
political interests. As many as 57 % of madaris held the view that war on
terrorism was directed against Islam. 103 madaris opposed military opeations in
the tribal areas. The syllabi of all these Deeni Madaris were re1igous in
content and scope and independent of the national education stream. The
government announced National Education Policy 1998-2000 to introduce the long
awaited reforms in respect of these institutions, which were as under:
• To Integrate the religious and formal education.
• To equate the madrassa degrees with that of other schools
and colleges.
• To accord the madrassas official recognition.
• To produce research oriented literature for the madrassas.
In pursuance of these objectives, government
promulgated an ordinance called “The Pakistan Madrassa Education (Establishment
and Affiliation of Model Deeni Madaris) Board Ordinance 2001 on 18 Aug 2001.
Its puropose was to enable these seminaries to secure registration with the
newly formed Madrassa Boards and integrate them with the general education
system of the country to promote uniformity and standardization of the
curricula. The madaris were to maintain their autonomous character for
imparting specialized Islamic education in consonance with the requirements of
the modern age and basic tenets and spirit of Islam. Their curricula were to
include modern subjects of formal education. The other aim was to regulate
their systems of examination and accord equivalance to their degrees and
certificates to provide their holders better opportunities of employment in the
natinal life.
To start with, Pakistan Madrassa Education Board
was established on 8 Aug 2001 under Ministry of Religious Affairs. The
Ordinance could not be enforced as Ittehade Deeni Madaris, an independent
religious organization, did not cooperate with the government. They did not
like interference of the government in their matters. After considerable
efforts, however, a consensus was reached and an Ordinance called The Societies
Registration (Second Amendment) Ordinance 2005 was passed which provided:
• No madrassa shall operate without getting registered with
the relavant Board.
• They shall submit annual report of their performance to
the Registrar of the Board.
• They shall submit an annual report of their audited
accounts to the Registrar.
• They shall not publish or teach any literature which may
promote militancy, sectarianism or religious hatred.
The promulgation of this law was appreciated by all
concerned. The total number of registered madrassas till 28 May 2007 came to
14072. The rest are being approached for registration. In the wake of the
anti-state activities and acts of terrorism committed by Jamia Hafsa and Jamia
Fandia, their registration was cancelled by the Wafaqul Madris Arabia to which
they were affiliated under their own arrangements.
The madrassa reforms strategy of the government
required teaching of Eng1.sh, Math, Urdu, General Science and Pakistan Studies
which was resisted to start with but now madaris have accepted the syllabi of
the Federal Board of Education. However, they will still be independent to
teach religious subjects as well. The marks of the religious subjects will not
be included in their final result.
As a next step forward, five Madrassa Education
Boards are being set up, one for each wafaq, along with an Inter-madrassa Board
for coordination to check the curriçula being followed, assess the system of
examination, evaluate the results with powers of cancellation of the
affiliation of the madrassas for non-compliance of the official instructions.
The Ministry of Education has launched a five-year
program for helping the madrassas to switch over to the teaching of syllabi
integrating the religious with fromal education. A development scheme costing
about Rs 5760 million has been approved out of which two installments of Rs 225
million and Rs 270 million have already been released to ensure the success of
these madrassa reforms. The Ministry of Education has also provided an annual
grant- in-aid of Rs 1.7 million to these madrassas.They are being equipped with
well stocked libraries and computer laboratories. They are also being helped to
recruit qualified staff to teach the newly introduced subjects.