PESHAWAR, Pakistan: The much-debated memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and Darul Uloom Haqqania has been unveiled according to which the religious seminary has promised to ensure reforms in its educational system in return of Rs300 million.
In June, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister Shah Farman told the Provincial Assembly that the provincial government had allocated Rs300 million in the annual budget for 2016-17 for Jamia Haqqania, a religious seminary located in Nowshera district and administered by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) Chief Maulana Samiul Haq.
Later, the PTI faced severe criticism from a section of society, arguing that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government financed a religious seminary which had allegedly been involved in fuelling extremism in the past.
On Monday (Yesterday), the PTI Chairman Imran Khan said in a press conference in Islamabad that they would hand over the MoU signed with Darul Uloom Haqqania to media and claimed that the funds and support would help the seminary students assimilate in our society, bring them in to the mainstream and keep them away from radicalization.
Under the MoU signed between the KPK government and Darul Uloom Haqqania on July 10, Haqqania Taleem-ul-Quran High School would be converted into degree college and Haqqania Institute for Modern Languages (Arabic, Persian, England, French, and Chinese) would be established.
Likewise, Haqqania Teacher Training Institute; Research and Publication; Modern Computer Laboratory; Student Foreign Scholarship Programme; Special Classes of Mathematics, General Science, Social Sciences, Political Science, International Law and Geography; and Construction of Academic Block were under the MoU.
Moreover, in a bid to bring educational reforms in other religious seminaries, Darul Uloom Haqqania would also help the provincial government.
