Pakistan: 5 new educational boards established for seminaries

Islamabad: The Pakistan government has decided to set up five new educational boards for religious seminaries representing various schools of thought of Islamic Shariah in the country.

According to the Education Ministry, these boards will not only issue certificates/degrees to the passing out students, they will also assist in the seminaries’ registration process.

The registration was earlier halted after existing boards boycotted it in the past.

Five boards

The five Wafaq or Boards have been notified by Ministry of Education after approval by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The new boards are Ittehad Madaris Al-Arabia Pakistan for Deobandi school of thought, Ittehad Madaris Al-Islamia Pakistan for Ahle-Hadith, Nizam-ul-Madaris Pakistan for Barelvi-Minhaj-ul-Quran), Majma-ul-Madaris Taleem ul Kitab Wal Hikmat for Ahle-Tashee and Wafaq-ul-Madaris Al-Islamia Al-Rizvia Pakistan for Barelvi.

Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood and Minister for Religious Affairs Pir Noorul Haq Qadri awarded registration certificates to the representatives of the new boards at a ceremony.

Addressing the participants of the ceremony, Shafqat Mahmood said the gulf between the state and the religious seminaries has been filled.

He announced establishment of 16 offices across the country to facilitate registration of the seminaries and said the Federal Board of Intermediate Education would provide 20 scholarships to seminary students.

“The government wants to promote education as much as possible and we will always take the centres of religious education on board,” he added.

Currently, there are five education boards for religious seminaries, one each for four mainstream schools of thought in the country – Shia, Barelvi, Deobandi, Ahle Hadith, while the fifth board belongs to the madaris managed by Jamaat-i-Islami.

These boards have been functioning since 1960s and the decision to introduce new boards was earlier opposed by seminaries, which termed it as an act to reduce the stature of religious education in the country.

Religious education

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman who is also head of the 11-party opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) while reacting to the establishment of new boards dismissed the government’s move saying it would undermine status of religious education.

“These are our ‘wafaq’ not the government’s and we don’t need any government’s approval to manage affairs of these boards,” said Fazlur Rehman in a statement.

The new seminary boards are under the regulatory ambit of Directorate General of Religious Education (DGRE) a subordinate department of the education ministry.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Middle East (ME) and Interfaith Harmony Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi also termed setting up of new boards a landmark step in ensuring interfaith harmony in the country.

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