Govt to start registration of seminaries from October 5

ISLAMABAD: The federal government started registration of seminaries (madressahs) for the first time in the country and established offices in all four provinces, Islamabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), ARY News reported on Friday.

The registration process of seminaries will commence from October 5.

The madressahs will be registered under the agreement between the federal government and Ittehad-e-Tanzeemate-Madaris, sources told ARY News. After the completion of the registration process, the seminaries will be linked with the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training.  Those madressahs will also be registered where students are residing besides taking religious education.

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The government established registration centres in 133 districts and also in the federal capital, whereas, provincial officers will perform duties in major cities including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta, Muzaffarabad, Gilgit.

Sources added that the authorities also deputed district-level officers in all provinces including autonomous regions including Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).

Besides appointing contact officers in each registration centre, 35 centres have been established in Punjab, 24 in Sindh, 31 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 25 in Balochistan, 9 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and 8 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).

Read: JUI-F rejects government’s Madrassah reform initiatives

The federal government had declared the registration of madressahs mandatory for the chain of seminaries linked with the Centre. Heads of the seminaries have been directed to contact provincial or district offices for receiving the registration forms.

Earlier in December last year, Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood had unveiled of the government for starting the registration process of seminaries to ensure equal educational opportunities to the students studying there through bringing reforms.

He had also announced that the government is willing to launch a comprehensive program in all the four provinces to enrol the out-of-school children and uplift the quality of education.