PESHAWAR, June 5: Speakers at a seminar demanded that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) should formulate a centralized curriculum for the religious seminaries to cope with the challenges of current regional situation.

A one-day roundtable seminar was jointly organized here on Saturday by the Department of Arabic, University of Peshawar and Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad, on the current situation of the region and the role of deeni madaris.

Chairman of the NWFP Public Service Commission, Mr Abdullah, gave a brief detail of the factors which brought a change in the education system from time to time.

He said that the education system in the subcontinent was based on madressahs and 'deeni madressahs' or religious institutions preaching Islamic teachings after 1857.

"The English in the subcontinent tried to create a breach in the educational system and weakened the nation as a whole. Since then the old schools are known as deeni madaris", Dr Abdullah said.

The participants, including scholars and students, asked the HEC to cooperate in formation of centralized curriculum for deeni madaris of the country. Social sciences, ethics and Islamic culture should be introduced to the curriculum taught in the deeni madaris, the speakers said. Educated women can play a vital role in current situation, they said.

The speakers jointly demanded the formation of an effective all Pakistan ulema council which should have its own secretariat. There should be an interim syndicate for the four provinces and the curriculum should be revised after every five years.

They stressed the need for teaching modern languages and a training university to produce trained graduate teachers for madaris. They further stressed for a deeni madaris network in the rural areas.