ISLAMABAD: Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Mohammad Yousuf said on Thursday that the devolution of education, particularly religious education, to the provinces was the wrong decision and the subject should be brought back to the national level.

“The syllabus should be applicable at the national level, and the curriculum has to be monitored by a single authority to maintain standards and the quality of education across the country,” Mr Yousuf said at a visit to the Jamia Muhammadia madressah.

The minister also witnessed examinations held by the Wafaqul Madaris al-Arabia, the main board for Deobandi seminaries.

The board secretary, Qari Hafeez Jhalandhari, and Qari Abdul Wahid from Mecca were also present.

Mr Yousuf said the government has decided to incorporate madressah reforms into religious education reforms, and discussions in this regard are underway between the religious affairs ministry, the Ministry of Education and National Security Adviser retired Lt Gen Nasir Janjua.

He also discussed the ministry’s Nizam-i-Salat initiative to hold prayers at the same time.

“The whole process was finalised in consultation with senior clerics, and the calendar for uniform prayer timings was prepared by the ulema, not by the government. But when the clause for imposing punishments on violators was included in the draft law, clerics began opposing it,” he said.

He added that if prayers were not held at the specified time, the prayer leader, muezzin and management committee were responsible and should be booked.

“It was a serious effort, and extending it to other cities is a serious task, but some people were deliberately creating misconceptions about Nizam-i-Salat,” he said.

Mr Jhalandhari, while discussing the board, said there are 20,000 institutions affiliated with it where around 2.3 million students are studying.

“I can claim that this is the largest network of Islamic religious education all over the world, and we produce more hafiz-i-Quran compared to any other country in the world,” he said.

“We have the same curriculum all over the country and exams are held at the same time nationwide, unlike the conventional educational system that promotes class divisions,” he added.

In response to a question, he said the board has parameters to keep out seminaries that promote extremism or are affiliated with banned groups. He said there were not even seminaries that are built illegally on encroached-upon land.

“There are universities in the country operating in one room, so one cannot single out this accusation for seminaries only,” he added.

In response to another question he said there was no difference in the curriculums taught in Barelvi and Ahle Hadis seminaries, as well as seminaries belonging to the Jamaat-i-Islami.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2018