Islamabad: Minister for Law and Justice and Human Rights Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar informed the Senate on Thursday that the number of registered Madaris (Religious seminaries) was 17,738 while the total number of registered students was 2,249,520 across the country.
Replying to a question of Senator Mumtaz Zehri during the Question Hour of the 344th session of the Upper House of the Parliament, he said that 10,012 seminaries were registered in Punjab and the number of students was 664,065.
Similarly, the number of registered Madaris in Sindh was 2,416 with 188,182 students; in Balochistan 575 seminaries were registered with 71,815 students.
The number of registered madaris in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was 4,005 and the total number of students was 1,283,024, in Azad Jammu and Kashmir 445 madaris and 26,787 students, Islamabad 199 seminaries had 11,301 students while the number of registered madrasas in Gilgit-Baltistan was 86 with 4,346 students.
He added that the Directorate General Religious Education(DGRE))
at the Federal level was authorized to register religious seminaries across the country.
Azam informed that DGRE had provided financial assistance to 598 registered Madaris by providing 1196 teachers, while DGRE appointed teachers on the recommendations of the concerned Madrassa and Wafaq who fulfil the laid down criteria which include a minimum bachelor’s Degree in English, Mathematics and General Science subjects, however, religious education if required in addition to the above qualifications was given preference.