ISLAMABAD: The federal government will start registration of religious seminaries for the first time in the country from Monday.

The federal government has established offices in all four provinces, Islamabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) in this regard. The religious seminaries will be registered under the agreement between the federal government and Ittehad-e-Tanzeemate-Madaris.

After the completion of the registration process, the seminaries will be linked with the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training. Those religious seminaries will also be registered where students are residing, besides taking religious education.

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

The authorities also deputed district-level officers in all provinces including autonomous regions AJK and 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, nine in AJK and eight in GB.

The federal government had declared the registration of religious seminaries 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 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 enroll out-of-school children and uplift the quality of education.

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