THE reform of religious seminaries has been an oft-debated topic since the early days of Gen Pervez Musharraf's regime. Yet over the years, madressah reforms have achieved very little. As reported in this paper, talks between the government and the Ittehad Tanzeemat-i-Madaris Pakistan, an umbrella body representing different schools of thought, have gone nowhere and there is no sign of a central madressah regulatory body. What has complicated matters is that under the 18th Amendment Islamic education is now a provincial subject. Federally, seminaries are handled by the interior division, and perhaps this is the crux of the problem. The interior ministry is clearly not equipped or able to initiate any substantial reform. Madressah reform is the domain of educationists, not the police or law-enforcement agencies. Also, the state needs to clarify — for itself and for others — what it means by reform. The federal religious affairs minister has said the state wants to register the madressahs, rationalise the curriculum and 'mainstream' the institutions. Yet the government seems confused about whether this should be an administrative exercise or a socio-cultural and educational one.

Does reform simply mean adding computers to madressah classrooms and teaching 'secular' subjects so that graduates can join the workforce? Or does it mean changing a narrow, often sectarian and jihadi worldview into one that accepts tolerance and plurality? For both these purposes the interior ministry is ill-equipped to take on the challenge. Furthermore, while ensuring that seminarians don't take to the path of militancy and extremism is a noble aim, the state needs to focus as much if not more attention on resuscitating a nearly dead public school system. It is understandable why many underprivileged parents would choose to send their children to well-funded seminaries with free meals and lodging instead of to crumbling state schools. This is where reform is really needed.