ISLAMABAD: As a first major step towards mainstreaming the religious seminaries, the government has established a directorate for registration and facilitation of the madaris functioning all over the country, sources told Dawn.

The notification regarding setting up of the Directorate General of Religious Education (DGRE) has been issued by Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training which has also been working on preparing a uniform curricula for all the schools and religious seminaries of the country.

According to the notification, the new directorate with its head office in Islamabad’s G-8 Sector will have 16 regional offices all over the country and the ministry has already posted officers as directors in these offices.

DGRE with head office in Islamabad will have 16 regional offices all over the country

The services of dozens of employees from Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) and National Commission of Human Development (NCHD) have been hired to run the directorate and its regional offices.

“The posting and transfers of the officers from the BECS and the NCHD are being made on attachment basis to operationalise the DGRE Head Office in Islamabad and its 16 regional offices all over the country”, says the notification.

The federal government is yet to appoint the head of the newly-established directorate. Sources in the ministry said that joint education adviser of the National Curriculum Council Rafiq Tahir was likely to be asked to look after the affairs of the DGRE as well.

The ministry has already notified posting of over 50 officers of the NCHD and the BECS at the DGRE. The regional offices will be headed by directors.

The regional offices of the DGRE are being set up in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan, Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, Swat, Quetta, Khuzdar, Loralai, Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Gilgit and Skardu.

Talking to Dawn a few days back, Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood had stated that the setting up of the DGRE would be a “landmark achievement” of the present government.

Mr Mahmood had stated the directorate would help seminaries get registered and it would also work as a facilitation centre for them. He said seminary students would also be imparted contemporary education and would appear in exams held under the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education. He had claimed religious scholars associated with Ittehad Tanzeemat-i-Madaris, an umbrella organisation of seminaries, had already announced their support to the directorate.

After holding a series of meetings with the ministry officials, Ittehad Tanzeemat-i-Madaris representatives have agreed to get all seminaries affiliated with them registered with the education ministry.

Religious scholars from various schools of thought who attended the meetings regularly included Mufti Mohammad Rafi Usmani (Mufti-i-Azam Pakistan and vice president Wafaqul Madaris Al Arabia) Mufti Muneebur Rehman (Tanzeemul Madaris Ahle Sunnat Pakistan president), Maulana Hanif Jalandhari (Nazim-i-Aala, Wafaqul Madaris Al Arabia), Maulana Mohammad Yasin Zafar (general secretary Wafaqul Madaris Al-Salfia), Allama Syed Qazi Niaz Hasan Naqvi (vice president Wafaqul Madaris Al-Shia) Dr Attaur Rehman (general secretary Rabtaul Madarasul Islamia) and Maulana Mohammad Afzal Haidri (general secretary Wafaqul Madaris Al Shia Pakistan) attended the meeting.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who also runs a large number of seminaries, was not part of the agreement as his party did not attend the meetings. Similarly, the madaris affiliated with Minhajul Quran of Dr Tahirul Qadri and those running under the supervision of some custodians of shrines have so far not held any meeting with the ministry on the issue.

According to education ministry officials, the government will soon announce a deadline for the madaris to get themselves registered with the DGRE. After expiry of this deadline, they said, unregistered seminaries would not be allowed to operate.

“We will register all madaris of the country while we will also facilitate them,” said an official of ministry, adding that the seminaries which were found promoting hatred and sectarianism would not to be allowed to operate.

He said the ministry would also help the seminary students to appear in examinations of compulsory subjects to be conducted by the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Islamabad, so that they could also get a chance to compete with the students of other schools and colleges.