The Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training is likely to start a countrywide campaign for registration of madrassas with the government in the first week of March.

Per official reports, no madrassa is registered with the ministry so far and the ministry has made the preparations needed to address the issue.

In this very regard, a Directorate General of Religious Education has also been set up in the federal capital along with 16 regional offices across the country. The requisite staff in this offices has been appointed via National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) on attachment basis.

The registration form, agreed to in principle by the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training and Ittehad Tanzeemat-ul-Madaris Pakistan (ITMP) has already been printed and would be handed out to madrassa administrations in the days to come.

There are close to 35,000 seminaries spread across the country and at least 3,000 would be registered in the first year, Minister of Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood said in December last year. The minister said that the registration process of all seminaries would be completed in the next four years.

Shafqat had also revealed that the government was planning paying a salary of Rs 17,000 per month and other stipend to teachers in registered seminaries who taught contemporary subjects at madrassas.