ISLAMABAD: The government has reappointed retired Maj Gen Dr Ghulam Qamar as chief of the Directorate General of Religious Education (DGRE) for another term of three years.

The prime minister approved his appointment in MP-1 scale with effect from Nov 18, 2024. Ghulam Qamar was appointed director general of DGRE in 2021 for eight months.

The DGRE was established as a madressah reform project for two years and the project director’s tenure was one-and-a-half years.

In his statement posted at the website of the DGRE, Maj Gen (retd) Dr Ghulam Qamar said the country’s education system had three tiers: (i) institutions run by the public sector, (ii) institutions run by the private sector, and (iii) and the Madressah network.

He added that madressahs play a vital role in the spread of education as most of the children from the lower strata are enrolled there.

“Children join madressahs at a very early stage. Most of them are usually deprived of parental care and are raised in a vacuum,” he said.

He said since it was essential to bring them into the mainstream, the government chalked out a strategy in 2019 for the purpose.

Although there have been numerous efforts by governments in the past to reform the seminaries, no progress was made because of several factors.

The DGRE head recalled that a group comprising five boards of religious seminaries, known as Ittehad Tanzeemul Madaris (ITM), had signed an MoU in 2019 with the federal education ministry to undertake reforms in Madaris.

The ITM consisted of five boards. One board each represented the four main schools of thought in the country — Barelvi, Shia, Deobandi and Ahle Hadis. The fifth board represents religious institutions run by the Jamaat-i-Islami.

The MoU with the government made it binding on all madaris to register themselves with the Directorate General of Religious Education and to teach three subjects in addition to conventional ones: English, maths, and general science.

The ITM, however, went back on its commitment recently and consequently, a law was enacted along with the 26th Amendment in October to allow madressahs to get themselves registered under the Societies Registration Act.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2025