ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Madrasahs in Pakistan [untill: 2005] 3- State And Madrasah Relations: 1947-1999 As the previous chapter revealed, the dichotomy in the educational system was inherited by Pakistan from colonial India. The religious madaris were in the hands of conservative ulema who suspected the introduction of reforms in any sector by the modernist leadership as a conspiracy against Islam.

Therefore, partly as a lack of commitment of the government and, partly, because of the fear of opposition from the conservative ulema, the government could not undertake comprehensive measures to introduce a uniform system of education in the country. However, the efforts to introduce reforms in the din-i-madaris have been underway since Ayub Khan’s regime.

These efforts could not produce fruitful results because of multiple socio-political reasons.[^126] Madrasahs under Ayub Khan’s Regime The first-ever attempt to integrate din-i-madaris into the formal educational system and to get their financial and administrative control was made in 1961 through an ordinance to transfer the private endowments to the state.

These waqf endowments were the main source of finance of din-i-madaris .[^127] In 1961 a committee for revision of the curricula of the Din-i-madras was formed for the first time. It consisted of eleven members in whom only three members represented the traditional din-i-madras while six were from universities and two were government representatives.[^128] The composition of the committee indicates the government move to bring about state sponsored reforms.

The committee’s proposals for the reforms of curricula also reflected this trend. The committee report covered 700 din-i-madaris in which Dars-i-Nizami was taught and was financed by the Asia Foundation, an American NGO.[^129] The committee report of 1962 suggests that general educational subjects should be introduced in din-i-madaris along with traditional religious subjects to meet the challenges of the time.

Active support of the clergy was sought to realize this objective.[^130] It was made clear that this would be possible only if certain unnecessary non-religious subjects be replaced by subjects based upon undisputed sources of knowledge.[^131] The committee agreed to introduce modern subjects to prepare students for different professions.