Ban on registration of new Madaris waived: Zobaida

The Government has decided to waive the ban on registration of new Madaris, and has increased the allocation by Rs 1 billion for their reformation, said the Federal Minister for Education Zobaida Jalal here on Friday evening.
She was talking to newsmen on the occasion of the launching ceremony of the Four Year Integrated Under-Graduate (Bachelor) Programme (FYIUP), at Foundation University.
University Rector, Dr Syed Zulfiqar Gilani briefed the minister and the participants about the salient features of the programme.
Zobaida said that new Madaris will be registered and the increased funds would be utilised for these Madaris.
"Government has decided to convert Haj Complexes in all major cities into model Madaris, in order to impart better training to the students of the religious institutions", she said and added that a conference was organised in Karachi in which Ulema were invited to devise a curriculum for the religious institutions and it was a successful exercise.
The Minister said that President Musharraf was showing keen interest in the education particularly the quality aspect of it.
"He (Musharraf) stressed towards strengthening the economy in his first tenure, as chief executive, and now when as a President his emphasis is towards the betterment of education system", Zobaida added.
Responding to questions regarding the unrest in Balochistan, Zobaida Jalal, who belongs to the province, said that there is no unrest.
"Some miscreants and so called nationalists are creating problems which are harming pace of development in the province", she added.
"I would never call them nationalists, as they are working against the Balochis", she said and added that the mega projects launched in Balochistan would ultimately benefit the people living there.
Zobaida expressed sorrow over the killing of Chinese nationals and said that China is a time-tested friend of Pakistan.
She also rejected the claim of construction of new cantonments in Balochistan and said that this is merely propaganda of these miscreants who want to gain sympathies of the innocent people.
Earlier addressing the launching ceremony, Federal Education Minister said that Foundation University is one of the pioneers which has launched this programme and is second after Peshawar University.
"It is in accordance with the education reforms of the government and will definitely pay to country in shape of producing a lot of useful persons", she said.
The Minister said that in past no efforts were made for the betterment of the higher education system but now the government has decided to take this sector seriously in order to produce highly knowledgeable lot of scientists and IT professionals. "Special emphasis of the government is towards quality education", she mentioned.