It is also encouraging greater adherence to the principles...

It is also encouraging greater adherence to the principles of tolerance and human rights in Islam, upheld in past Islamic civilization.[^265] In order to achieve the objective of changing the culture of intolerance ICRD has conducted training workshops for madrasah leaderships from five religious schools of thought*, Deobandi, Ahl-e-Hadis, Shia, Barelvi and Jamat-e-Islami* that sponsor these religious schools.

In addition, workshops are being conducted in separate tracks for administrations and senior faculty from Deobandi madrasahs in Baluchistan near the Afghan and Iranian border and Ahl-e-Hadith madrasahs throughout the country at the special requests of selected madrasah leaders.

The ICRD has also begun conducting “training of trainers” workshop to produce trainers who can train other madrasahs leaders on their own.[^266] About the impact the ICRD has created so far its vice president said the centre work has been greeted with enthusiasm by the madrasahs leaders. He said that their role is one of helping the madrasahs to help themselves. Toward this end it has been essential that the madrasahs view this as their own effort and not as something imposed from outside.

Exposure to the pioneering breakthrough in the arts and sciences that took place under Islam a thousand years ago, including those relating to religious tolerance, is providing added incentives for madrasahs to expand their horizons by reshaping their curriculum, the ICRD head observed. The ICRD also plans to help religious schools develop model curricula for their students.

Giving an outline of this program, the ICRD head said that it would offer several alternative curricula that could serve as models for future consideration of madrasah leaders through engaging them in determining best practices in Islamic education, convening curriculum enhancement conferences for systematic enhancement of madrasah curriculum, and creating an inter-sectarian curriculum development committee to develop the models.

The exchange of faculty visits between Pakistani madrasahs and American Islamic religious and culture centres is also a part of programme.[^267] National Research and Development Foundation (NRDF) The National Research and Development Foundation (NRDF), a Peshawar based NGO, is working to modernize the curricula of madaris with the collaboration of the ulema.