July 23, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 26, 1427

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WASHINGTON, July 22: Pakistan has told the US that while it has a comprehensive plan to reform the madressahs and bring them on a par with mainstream schools, it has no intention of closing them.

Pakistan’s efforts to reform the madressahs were discussed in a meeting on Friday at the US State Department where Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Mohammad Ejazul Haq outlined the government’s policy towards religious schools.

According to the information given to the State Department, the madressahs were divided into two categories: those associated with Ittehad Tanzimat Madaris-e-Deeni and those working independently.

The ITMD, which includes Deobandi, Ahle Sunnat, Ahle Hadith, Jaafria schools of thought and Jamaat-e-Islami, has a total of 11,882 madressahs. About 800,000 students are registered at these madressahs that provide full boarding and lodging facilities.

Then there are about 700,000 children who go to schools not affiliated with the ITMD, mainly reading the Holy Quran at mosque-schools near their homes. Some of them, however, opt to become full-time students of religion as well.

As many as 11,000 of the ITMD madressahs have already been registered with the federal government and have also agreed to teach a curriculum approved by the federal board of education. This includes all the subjects taught at regular schools as well as the regular course taught at religious schools.

“Some of the best students are reared at these madressahs,” said Mr Ejazul Haq. “For the past five years, nine of the top 15 positions in the federal board examinations were claimed by madressah students.”

He said the purpose of the briefing held at the State Department was to show that “most madressahs have nothing to do with terrorism. They are doing a great social service by providing free education to more than 1.5 million students.”

The minister said that teaching 1.5 million students costs as much as Rs127 billion a year, raised by madressahs from ordinary people.

“If the government was given this task, it would have failed after wasting millions of dollars but the madressahs are doing this service without seeking any help from the government,” said Mr Haq.

The data shared with the Americans also showed that the highest numbers of madressahs were run by the Deobandis, followed by the Ahle Sunnat, Ahle Hadith, Jamaat-i-Islami and Fiqh-e-Jaafria.

Each of the five association associated with the ITMD will ultimately be given the status of a federal education board and will be able to award their own certificates equivalent to those given by regular boards.

All the five boards will function under an inter-madressah board whose chairman will be appointed by the president.