WASHINGTON, Aug 18: Through a new $255 million reform package, the Pakistan government is trying to take control of the country’s 8,000 Madaris from the religious parties, says a report published in the Washington Times on Sunday.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf, the report says, has pledged to increase the tolerance level in the country. Previous attempts to curb the extremists have failed, but the government hopes it will succeed, the report adds.

“We are not looking to confront the [religious scholars]; we want a constructive engagement,” says Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed.

The report quotes Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman as saying he was against intolerance and religious hatred but would not want the government to control the Madaris by using the war against terror as an excuse. “We will not let that happen — never,” he said.

The government hopes to open up other opportunities for the Madaris graduates by bridging “the existing gulf between the mainstream formal education system and the traditional religious schools by introducing a new, integrated curriculum,” says the report quoting a policy brief distributed by the Pakistan embassy here.

The new system introduces such subjects as English, mathematics, Pakistan studies, social studies, and general sciences to Madaris from primary to secondary level.

At the intermediate level, English, economics, Pakistan studies and computer technology will be made an integral part of the curriculum, the report says.

“The new programme will reach some 800,000 students in 8,000 Madaris across the country,” says the brief quoted in the report.

Under the project, the government plans to train some 28,000 teachers to improve their knowledge of modern subjects and teaching methods, the brief says.

It hopes the plan will help integrate Madressah students into the social mainstream and improve their prospects for employment.

The brief says the government has increased allocation of funds in the 2003-04 budget for universal primary education and literacy, which, it hopes, will allow strengthening of the education system and open new schools.

“This will provide students with an alternative to the Madaris,” says the brief, supporting the view that many parents are forced to send their children to Madaris because there are no other schools available.

Many religious schools have already been registered, and the government is offering them incentives, such as the payment of salaries for teachers of the newly introduced subjects and financial assistance for the establishment of science and computer laboratories.

The government is also introducing a monitoring and evaluation system. Madaris will be required to report to the government that facilities provided are properly used, the brief says.

The report quotes critics of the reform programme as saying that it ignores the political dimensions of the issue. They say that most Madressah students will like the opportunity to work as lawyers, engineers and software developers. But those who run Madaris themselves may not like it.