Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said he wanted the country's youth to excel as 'all-rounders of contemporary plus religious education' and prove their mettle before the world with confidence. "The youth, which has a strong knowledge of both modern sciences and religion and also realizes the objective of Pakistan's creation, can lead the country at international arena," the prime minister said in his address at the prize-distribution ceremony held for the meritorious students of Madrassahs (religious institutions), here at the PM House.
The event was aimed at honouring the Madrassah students, who appeared in the contemporary subjects of regular board examinations, along side their actual system of religious education. Prime Minister Khan said efforts were afoot to end the colonial system of parallel education systems in the country, which was resulting in a wide social divide among the people.
He said the education system would be synchronized where all the students in every nook and cranny of the country would study the same curriculum to a certain level and would later on opt for any discipline of their choice. "The objective is to rise together as a nation which is gelled with the bond of harmony and tolerance," he said.
Terming as grave injustice, he regretted that Madrassah students due to their limited scope of syllabus, could not exploit the opportunities offered in modern fields. He said Islam laid great stress on achieving education, not for the sake of attaining knowledge only, but for utilising it for the benefit of humanity.
"The two-edged science offers mankind the invention of medicine to cure humanity and also the bomb used for destruction. The religion's guiding power thus can help in choosing the right or wrong path," he said. The PM lauded the efforts of Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood for working efficiently with the National Curriculum Council towards deriving a consensus among public, private and religious institutions for a unanimous academic curriculum.
He urged inclusion of chapters about Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah as the nation's political and Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal as the ideological role models. Imran Khan said "today, the Muslims around the world had lost their authority for being weak in education and research and mentioned that no one could imagine the similar inhuman treatment to the followers of other religions, as being meted out to the Muslims including of Kashmir."
The PM mentioned that the recently agreed-upon launch of joint television channel along with Turkey and Malaysia would be used to air programmes including films to counter the misrepresentation of Muslims in Hollywood and Bollywood movies. He said Urdu dubbing of Turkish fiction movie 'Resurrection: Ertugrul' was under consideration, which was based on the chain of historic events that ultimately led to the founding of Ottoman Empire.
"Our children only know about the Western heroes. We must tell them about Muslim super heroes including rulers and scientists who ruled the world for 700 years," he said. Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood said that after a year-long strenuous consultations with stakeholders, it was agreed upon that all Madrassah students would take the board examinations to join the open career stream.
He said by March, the National Curriculum Council will finalize the syllabus of primary level. Earlier, the PM gave away prizes among the students for achieving academic distinction in board examinations.