Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training on Tuesday passed compulsory teaching of the Holy Quran bill that will be applicable in all public and private educational institutions in the federal capital. A meeting of the committee was held here in the Parliament House in the chair of Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak.
The bill will now be tabled in the National Assembly and Senate for approval which clearly says that compulsory teaching of the Holy Quran will not be applicable to non-Muslim students and they would keep studying ethics as an alternate subject. The bill will be applicable to all educational institutions in Islamabad and all those working under the ambit of the federal capital.
The Holy Quran will be taught to students with translation in Islamic studies classes in the schools, the bill says, adding that it is responsibility of the state under the Constitution to promote and implement teachings of the Holy Quran. According to the first part of the bill, students are required to study Quran Nazra from grade-1 to grade-5, while second part of the bill required students to study simple translation of the Holy Quran from grade-6 to grade-12.
Minister of State for Federal Education Baligh-ur-Rehman informed the committee members that all provinces have also expressed their consent to implement the compulsory the Holy Quran teachings in their respective jurisdictions too.
The committee also discussed disparities in the salaries of the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) teachers. Chairperson NCHD Rozina Alam Khan said that community schools-based teachers whom jobs are considered as part time or voluntary are paid between Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000 only. She informed the committee members that only teachers of Madrassah project are given Rs 12,000 honorarium monthly.
Senator Sehar Kamran said if the government can invest billions of rupees in mega projects, why it cannot give the teachers even the minimum wage, which is Rs 15,000. Senator Nuzhat Sadiq said that there should be an increase in the salaries of community teachers along with their proper training.
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