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| July 30, 2005 | Saturday | Jumadi-us-Sani 22, 1426 |
Ministry told to expedite madressah reforms
ISLAMABAD, July 29: The Senate Standing Committee on Education has stressed upon the Ministry of Education to expedite the work on Madressah Reforms project and collect data on the registration of religious institutions.
The committee, in a meeting presided over by Senator Razina Alam Khan here on Friday, made this observation while having a briefing on the teaching of formal subjects in seminaries.
The members of the committee were of the view that it was the need of the hour to introduce modern education along with religious teaching in seminaries to enable the students to face all challenges of life and protect a soft image of Pakistan.
The education secretary informed the committee that there were some lacunas in the rules for registration of religious institutions and certain amendments were required. He said Madressah Reforms Act would be introduced soon for registration of madressahs all over the country.
He said though correct data on the number of madressahs and their enrolment was not available, it was estimated that more than 10,000 such institutions were imparting religious education in the country, out of which only 3,000 were registered.
The secretary told the committee that the federal government had provided Rs495 million to the provincial governments for distribution among registered madressahs. But the reports on the amount’s utlization were not provided due to which further disbursement was held up, he added.
The members of the committee were of the view that the Ministry of Education should motivate the madressahs for registration and conduct a survey to know the exact figures of such institutions.
The committee also suggested that during registration, categorization of such institutions should be made on the basis of strength and performance. It also directed the ministry to take feedback about the funds disbursed among the provincial governments for improving the condition of registered religious institutions.
National College of Arts, Lahore, Principal Prof Sajida Haider Vandal also briefed the committee on the overall performance of the college, its enrolment procedures and various other important aspects. She said the NCA had grown over the years from the college of arts and design to an institution running advance programmes not only in traditional areas, but also in more modern fields of multimedia arts and cultural studies.
She also informed the committee about the recently- established NCA campus in Rawalpindi and courses to be offered there.
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