About 37 'Deeni Madaris' religious seminaries are still operating unregistered in the Federal Capital (FC) whereas Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration has registered 154 'Deeni Madaris' religious seminaries so far, informed sources in Interior Ministry revealed to this scribe on Wednesday.
The ICT Administration has started registration of the religious seminaries in the capital after Lal Masjid episode to bring these institutions under a proper supervisory system of the government, the sources said, adding that so far 154 religious seminaries operating in different areas of the capital have been registered while 37 are still unregistered.
They said that as per data obtained by the ICT Administration there are 15,191 students studying in 154 registered religious seminaries in Islamabad, but there is no exact figure of the students studying in un-registered seminaries. The cases for registration of 13 religious seminaries are under process and in a very short span of time these institutions will be registered, they said, adding that the ICT administration has also located 101 'Maktabs' seminaries of Day Scholars where children of the same locality are being taught Holy Quran and Islamic studies.
In Maktabs, children of the same locality learn the recitation of the Holy Quran for one to two hours daily and these Maktabs are not being considered as Madaris and need no funding from outside, sources said. They said these institutions are being registered under Societies Registration (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2005 and details including the address, name of in-charge and number of students are now part of the administration's record, the sources said. They said that ICT Administration was asked to ensure the registration of all unregistered religious seminaries at the earliest and help these institutions to give quality education to students along with religious education.