Inclusion of madressah students in Naya Pakistan Youth Programme 'a revolutionary step': minister

Published December 7, 2018
Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri (L) and prime minister's aide Usman Dar (R)  discuss measures to include religious seminaries' students in youth programme. — Photo by author
Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri (L) and prime minister's aide Usman Dar (R) discuss measures to include religious seminaries' students in youth programme. — Photo by author

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Usman Dar on Friday met Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noorul Haq Qadri to discuss measures the government plans to implement in order to bring seminary students into the mainstream.

Dar, who is Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs, said that Prime Minister Imran Khan wanted to include all young students who study in seminaries into the framework of his Naya Pakistan Youth Programme because he wanted them to have a "bright future".

Dar said that the government aims to provide interest-free loans, medical facilities, vocational training and jobs to pupils of religious seminaries so they can compete with students who have been educated in mainstream schools.

The premier's aide added that madressah students are the country's "precious assets", and that their talents should not go to waste.

Qadri lauded the initiative and said that the inclusion of madressah students in the youth programme taken by the prime minister would be a "revolutionary step".

The initiative is in line with the PTI government's goal to bring madressahs into mainstream and eradicate class-based education.

The party's manifesto promises to "map out and register all seminaries across Pakistan" and "introduce literacy and mathematics teaching as formal subjects within the Madressah curriculum".

Opinion

Editorial

War and peace
Updated 18 May, 2025

War and peace

Instead of constantly evoking the spectre of war, India and Pakistan should work towards peace.
Unequal taxation
18 May, 2025

Unequal taxation

PAKISTAN’S inefficient, growth-inhibiting, distortive and unjust tax system can justifiably be described as the...
Health crimes
18 May, 2025

Health crimes

MULTAN’S Nishtar Hospital, south Punjab’s largest public-sector hospital, was in the news last year for...
Tariff reform
Updated 17 May, 2025

Tariff reform

Planned import policy reforms signify a major positive shift in the govt’s economic and growth strategy.
Rising heat
17 May, 2025

Rising heat

AS the mercury continues to rise mercilessly across Pakistan, it becomes painfully clear that climate change has hit...
Missing link
17 May, 2025

Missing link

FINANCE Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb now has much to his credit, which is why his promise that the M6 motorway will ...