ISLAMABAD (UCAN): The government of Pakistan has decided that the study of Islam is no longer compulsory for non-Muslim students.
In a January 22 notification, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training approved a new curriculum which makes studying Islam non-compulsory for Christian, Bahá’i, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, and Zoroastrian students. The Religious Education Curriculum 2023 for Grades 1 to 12 will be introduced from the 2024 to 2025 academic year.
The Catholic Church has been urging the government to make provision for non-Muslim students to receive religious education in their own faith instead of Islamiat, which comprises courses on Islamic beliefs and practices.
Naeem Yousaf Gill, director of the National Commission of Justice and Peace, the rights body of the Pakistani bishops’ council, welcomed the development.
“We appreciate the government for involving Catholic bishops in developing the syllabus of Christianity. However, its monitoring and implementation is another challenge. Policies for minorities often flop in our country,” he said.
Pakistan has one of the lowest budgetary allocations for education in South Asia. The nation allotted 1.7 per cent of its GDP for education in the fiscal year 2022 to 2023 compared to 1.4 per cent previously.
“The long-term process will require training of teachers and a salary structure,” Gill observed.
In 2020, the provincial Punjab government made it compulsory for Muslim students to study the Quran, and non-Muslim students were asked to study ethics in lieu of Islamiat from Grade 3.
Jaipal Chhabria, president of the Pakistan Hindu Forum, rejected teaching religious studies in educational institutes.
“Civilised nations don’t do it. It was never the vision of our founding father [Mohammed Ali Jinnah],” he said.
“You are free, you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or any other places of worship in this state of Pakistan,” Jinnah had said in a speech to the nation after independence from Britain.
“In an environment where the majority thinks its religion is superior, it is impossible for a Muslim teacher to teach Christianity or Hinduism,” Chhabria said.
According to the last national census in 2017, Pakistan had 2.6 million Christians making up 1.27 per cent of a population of 207 million. Hindus were at 1.73 per cent.
