DESPITE the fact that madressah reforms have been on the national agenda for a number of years, it is clear that on the state level these are going nowhere. As reported in this newspaper, the federal interior minister recently told a cabinet meeting he was ‘holding talks’ with the relevant quarters regarding the establishment of a madressah regulatory authority. Rehman Malik claimed it was difficult getting different schools of thought on a single platform in this respect. The minister had initially been tasked in November 2009 with setting up the authority. Over two years have passed but there has been no progress on this front. What is more, a spokesperson for the Ittehad-i-Tanzeemat Madaris, an umbrella body that groups together five different madressah boards, has contested Mr Malik’s claims, saying that the state has made no effort to set up the authority.

In this regard, one important argument is that de-radicalisation should not be limited to madressahs, but should be a societal endeavour, considering we have become a highly intolerant society. For example, it is said the curriculum taught in public schools is perhaps more effective in breeding intolerance than what seminaries teach. Also, it is fair to say that a significant number of college and university students in this country share the narrow worldview of their more radical madressah counterparts. It is also wrong to assume all madressahs preach violence. Yet the fact remains that some seminaries are indeed teaching their students extremist ideologies. Hence it is essential that madressahs be regulated, especially where the curriculum is concerned.

As we have stated before, madressah reform is a subject the interior ministry is incapable of handling. It is an educational matter, not one of law enforcement, hence educationists should be at the forefront of the reform initiative. Since education has been devolved, the respective provincial education departments should be handling madressah reform, with the federal government maintaining a supervisory role to ensure uniformity. Making sure the state knows how many madressahs exist and what they are teaching seems like an entirely achievable endeavour — if the state has the political will, of course.