The government has virtually shelved a US-aided, multi-million dollar plan to reform madrassas considered nurseries of terrorism, as it has failed to garner the support of clerics.Oh, wotta surprise.
The government initiated the project in 2002 in a bid to introduce a more secular curriculum in madrassas. The project sought to introduce computer skills, science, social studies and English into the overwhelmingly religious curriculum at thousands of madrassas across the country.
"Iffen it hain't in the Koran it hain't worf larnin'!"
Utility: "We had a huge budget of Rs 5,759 million ($71 million) to provide madrassa students with formal education but we could not utilise it," Education Ministry spokesman Atiqur Rehman said.
"The dough's really much happier in Switzerland!"
"The Interior Ministry held talks with various madrassas... but many of them refused to accept the government's intervention," said Mufti Gulzar Ahmed Naeemi, a senior official of the mainstream Sunni clerics alliance, Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunnat. As a result, the government has failed to meet the target of reforming around 8,000 religious schools within five years.
Golly. That Pak gummint missed a target date. Shucks.
"We reached 507 madrassas only, spending Rs 333 million and the rest of the [money] -- Rs 5,426 million has lapsed," Rehman said.