LAHORE: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Monday approved the appointment of 70,000 Arabic teachers for compulsory teaching of the Holy Quran in all schools of the province.

The School Education Department had submitted the proposal of recruiting 70,000 Arabic teachers to the Cabinet.

SED Secretary Ghulam Fareed said that the Arabic teachers were being trained for compulsory teaching of Holy Quran in the schools. He said new posts had been created from grade-1 to 5.

A division bench of the Lahore High Court headed by Justice Shahid Waheed is presently hearing an appeal seeking teaching of the Quran in schools.

When it sough a report from the Punjab government, an official of the education department told the bench that 7,000 teachers were being trained in the first phase.

He had further told the court that 60,000 Arabic language teachers were required in the province.The bench adjourned further hearing till Jan 3 and directed the education department to submit a progress report. On Monday, the cabinet rather approved hiring of 70,000 teachers.

The bench had earlier directed the sessions judges of all the districts in Punjab to check in their relevant territories whether the Holy Quran was being taught as a separate subject as claimed by the education department.

The school education department in a report had confirmed that the chief executive officers of the district education authorities visited all the schools (public, private, madressahs) in their respective areas and confirmed that the Holy Quran was being taught in every school as a separate subject.

The judge had ordered the D&SJs or their nominees would not only check whether Quran was being taught as a separate subject but also counter-verify that the facts narrated by the education department were correct in all respects.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2021