Education plays an important role to polish a human being; which not only make him a responsible citizen of society but also prepare him for the upcoming challenges of modern age. The formation of a comprehensive educational system is a mandatory provision to fulfill such demands of contemporary age and society. Ideally, a quality curriculum can only guarantee to achieve the objectives of successful educational system. A curriculum, which fails to come up with the demands of the students, subject, needs of the society and requirements of the present day, is considered inappropriate.1 Thus, development of curriculum is a continuous process for adapting itself with changing world. Before the formation or development of a curriculum, the educators must pay attention to the objectives of program and course contents.

Number of sources count to materialize the objectives of the curriculum, such as, National policy, religious beliefs, thoughts of national leaders, national & regional issues, social & economical needs, religious and cultural requirements, Psychological and educational needs of students, new trends of knowledge etc. All these sources provide base for setting objectives.2

Objectives of curriculum are two-fold; general and specific.3 General Objectives covers the whole program. Moreover, the objectives of primary level education will be different from the objectives of secondary & higher secondary level and vice versa. On other hand, specific objectives relate to various specified subjects, such as the objective of General Science will be different from the objectives of Social Studies. So, the specific objectives are framed in accordance with general objectives of a study program.

After the determination of general and specific objectives of a study program, the second crucial step is the selection of course contents in accordance with the pre-set objectives. Selection of course contents for achieving the pre-set objectives is a hectic task for subject specialists. They develop syllabus by selecting various topics and course contents according to a specified subject.

Before going to analyze the objectives and curriculum of Model Madaris, it is important to understand the Mechanism for curriculum development in Pakistan. As per constitution the Education Act 1976,4 it is the responsibility of Curriculum Wing, Ministry of Education to develop the curriculum up to higher secondary level If there is any need to change the curriculum, the curriculum wing sends suggestions (of renewal or revision) to provinces. Each province has its own curriculum bureau to review or edit the curriculum according to the guidelines provided by curriculum wing of ministry of Education.

In provincial curriculum bureaus, various committees perform the task of curriculum development. Generally, these committees consist of subject specialists. After receiving manuscripts from the provincial curriculum bureaus, the Curriculum Wing of Ministry of Education put them in front of National Review Committee. Getting approval from the National Review Committee, the manuscript of curriculum is then forwarded to Secretary Education for final approval.5 At graduate and post graduate level, it is the responsibility of the universities to develop a curriculum through their statutory bodies i.e. Board of Studies, Board of Faculty and Academic Council as per guide lines set by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.

The curriculum of Model Dini Madaris, from Middle to Post Graduate level, has been developed by Ministry of Religious Affairs, although, constitutionally, it has no role to develop the curriculum. According to the first annual report of PMEB “The curriculum of Model Dini Madaris has been developed after a thorough consultation and assistance of educational experts and religious scholars”,6 but according to Dr. Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi, the then minister of religious affairs, “I think it was December 11th, 1999, when I called on General Musharraf, and discussed the religious education taking initiative myself. Musharraf clearly affirmed that the Government has no agenda to interfere into the business of Madaris system. However, he ascended to the suggestion of Model Dini Madaris under the government control, and directed to prepare a curriculum for that firstly”.7 As per afore statement of Dr. Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi, he convinced Pervez Musharraf for establishment of Model Dini Madaris in December 1999, and, surprisingly, after a short span of time, on August 18, 2001, the Ordinance is issued by the government for establishment of such Madaris. Even, the Ministry of religious affairs (MORA) published the curriculum of model Madaris in the same month of August, 2001. Hence, it is to be assumed that the detailed consultation as well as discussion for development of curriculum among experts of education and religious scholars would not have been conducted because no such record of educational experts and consultants is brought forward in connection with the development of model Madaris curriculum.

Objectives of the Study:

i.to explore the objectives of Model Dini Madaris Curriculum

ii.to analyze if the curriculum contents match the Curriculum objectives, and

iii.to find practical solutions to strengthen the curriculum contents and objectives and to bring them in line

Discussion:

Model Dini Madaris were established by federal government through Ordinance No: XL of 2001, promulgated on August 18, 2001 by General Musharraf. Exercising the power under the ordinance, the ministry for Religious Affairs, Zakat & Usher, established Pakistan Madrasah Education Board (PMEB) Vide Notification No. 12-1-AD/1E-1/R2R/2000 date 08/9/2001. The chairmanship of the board was handed over to the then chairman, Dr. Sher Muhammad Zaman, of Council of Islamic Ideology as an additional charge.8

The federal government had allocated the initial budget of Rs.30 million for the board but the amount was transferred to the account of the board on August 23, 2002, after delay of almost one year due to laying down the rules for transferring the amount.9 Consequently, 03 Model Madaris started functioning in January/February 2003 in Hajj directorates of respective cities; Model Dini Madrasah Islamabad for girls and the rest two Model Madaris at Karachi and Sukkar for boys.

Prior to an analysis of the objectives and consequent curriculum, it is worth mentioning here that the general education system of our country is based on various stages or levels e.g. primary, Middle, Secondary, Higher Secondary, Graduation and Specialization. Objectives for each stage/level are different from the other. However, PMEB’s ordinance does not possess any detailed title for objectives nor the MORA as well as PMEB have described the general educational objectives, collectively. Similarly, objectives for middle, secondary, higher secondary etc. level and specific objectives for teaching subjects have not been provided. The objectives which are discussed has been extracted from the statements of the high officials of PMEB and ordinance issued in this regard. These objectives are not mentioned for any specific stage of education rather they come in the range of general education.

The opening sentences of the ordinance states as:

“To enable the establishment of Model Dini Madaris to improve and source uniformity of standard of education and for integration of the system of Islamic education imparted at Dini Madaris within the general education system”.10

The above mentioned statement describes significant objective of Model Madaris system as “Integration of religious and modern education”. The rationale behind the objectives might be to equip the youth with both religious teachings and also to prepare them to survive in a globalized and competitive world.

The statements of Dr. Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi also highlight some of the objectives of this program. The statements of Dr. Ghazi are as follows:

“For the last 40 years almost, I am thinking about development of a comprehensive and balanced type of education system in our country comprising of modern and religious subjects. The fundamental objective of this new system should be the preparation of such scholars who have the ability of in depth understanding Islamic teachings as well as portraying the exemplary character and etiquettes of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and great scholars of past. Similarly, they should have the capacity of comprehension of challenges of Modern education analytically.11

Such educational institutions should be established in which some modern subjects should be included along with religious syllabus. The objective of their institutions should be provision of such scholars who bear competencies in religious knowledge in addition to the subjects needed for the promotion of Islamic values in country such as Economics, national law, Mathematics, Computer, English etc. For this, we have prepared a syllabus, already.12

In fact, our society seriously needs such scholars who can preach and explain the teaching of Islam according to the challenges of 21st century and contemporary demands of the world. Moreover, they should assist the promotion of Islamic laws & commandments having mastery over the religious subjects of Quran, Hadith and Islamic Jurisprudence as well as on History, Political Science, Economics and law, also.13

For the establishment of Model Dini Madaris, the Ordinance of Pakistan Madrasah Education Board 2001 was promulgated with the objective “To present a model for harmonizing the curriculum of Madaris according to the demands of the present days.14

Establishment of such Dini Madaris, who play an exemplary role for presenting the demands of current world and to know the extent to incorporate them within religious curriculum” 15

Dr. Sher Muhammad Zaman, the pioneer chairman of PMEB, mentioned that the immediate objective of the Model Madaris is the combination of classical and modern subjects as well as setting it free from sectarian impacts with the financial and technical assistance of the government.16

From the above mentioned policy statements, we extracted the following objectives of Model Madaris:

1. Integration of religious education with mainstream educational system
2. Competency of the Graduates of Model Dini Madaris in Contemporary Subjects
3. Model for Sectarianism Free Curriculum
4. To Prepare Scholars Having Rational Approach to Contemporary Demands Besides Having Expertise in Qur’an, Hadith and Jurisprudence

Analysis of the Objectives and Curriculum of Dini Madaris:

1. Integration of religious education with mainstream educational system

It is the main objective of the Model Madaris to blend the religious and modern education. The first rationale was that, it will create a balance between the religious and modern education. Second, it will help to provide similar education throughout the country. is creating class system in the society, namely elite, upper middle, lower middle and poor. Educational experts are emphasizing that the government should launch same education system throughout the country, so that, to eliminate the follies like class systems and inferiority and superiority complexes.

If on one side schools, colleges and universities are imparting modern education, on other hand religious institutions are disseminating religious knowledge. Thus, both the systems lead our nation in two dividing poles and thus generating problems like extremism, secularism, prejudices etc. So, it is important to bridge this gap through a balance education system which should have both modern and religious education. Modern education will equip the students to prepare themselves for the contemporary society while religious education will make them better Muslims.

The renowned scholar Manazir Ahsan Gillani [Died, 1956] analytically studied the situation and viewed as:

“Education has been bifurcated; one is named as religious while the other is worldly. Institutions for imparting both types of education are separate from each other in their administration, culture, attitudes, environment, teaching methodology etc. and same is the case of curriculum. Resultantly, the graduate of any one of these two systems is unaware from the other system, absolutely. Now these are two main groups in literates in the country; for distinguishing between them, one is called Ulema (religious scholars) and the other is call educated. Mister or Mulana, leader or ulema, educated or molvi; the clash between these words is spreading gradually. Each one is fed up from the other.

Non-obedient, atheist and anti-religious blames are imposed on educated by the ulema while they are blamed of dark-minded, unaware and having less wisdom. This skirmish is developing day by day in the both sides. In these circumstances, bridging the gulf between the both systems or minimizing it at least, is the important need of the day”.17

The graph shows the landscape of current curriculum of model Madaris: 18

After going through the above syllabus, it is explored that students are overburdened with course. Apparently, it seems that the ratio between load of courses and teaching hours and aptitude of the students has been ignored. For example, if teaching is carried out for 8 hours (which is too long) then, would the completion of syllabus be possible? Would the students be able to memorize a part from the holy Qur’an, then, they will learn the Tajweed to recite Qur’an correctly and after that they will get command in Arabic language, Jurisprudence, Grammar and Islamic history etc. besides getting expertise in Urdu, English, Social Studies, Economics, Political Science and Computer?

Saleem Mansoor Khalid commented on the curriculum of Model Dini Madaris as: “the curriculum developers have developed the course for Platonic students who will overcome this huge curriculum and will pass the examination or at least they will get first-hand knowledge about these subjects”.19

Integration of religious and modern education is an appreciable step however; it will be more suitable if:

1. The concerned statutory bodies of Madaris Education Board i.e. Curriculum Committee and Academic Council should be activated, and they should carry the task of integrating the courses with the consultation of Curriculum Wing, Ministry of Education.
2. In each class, there should be a balanced ratio of religious and modern subjects to determine the proper work load.
3. Credit hours system should be introduced in Model Dini Madaris.
4. To lessen the burden of text books on students, modern principles of curriculum development should be followed and integrated into books that should be especially authored collecting various related subjects.

e.As classes move up, the number of subjects should be lower, keeping in view the interests of students and to enable them to become specialists.

2. Competency of the Graduates of Model Madaris in Contemporary Subjects

The second main objective of Model Madaris system is to build the competency of its graduates in contemporary subjects. The competency of the graduates of Model Dini Madaris at the same time with having mastery in Economics, Regional Law, Political Science and Computer can be termed an ideological situation; however, a real and serious approach may lead the graduate of Madaris to learn necessary know-how of these subjects. Ironically, when this objective is seen from the perspective of Model Dini Madaris, it could be assumed that Model Dini Madaris authorities might feel any importance for these subjects as they practically excluded them from the curriculum e.g. the subjects of Economics & Computer Science.20 Similarly, The subject of Law has been ignored while developing curriculum. Hence, exclusion of Economics, Computer, and Law is a matter of great concern as this puts question mark on the standard of Model Madaris.

3. Model for Sectarianism Free Curriculum

This objective is of crucial importance from academic and social point of view. Presently, religious education in Islamic seminaries of Pakistan, is imparted on the basis of various schools of thoughts. Pakistani Madaris are affiliated with five boards. Madaris belonging to Deobandi school of thought are affiliated with Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Arabiyya Multan; Madaris of Brailvi School of thought are affiliated with Tanzeem ul Madaris Lahore; Madaris of Ahl-e-Hadith are affiliated with Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Salfiyya Lahore and Madaris of Shia community are affiliated with Wifaq ul Madaris Al- Shia Lahore.

According to Dr. Mohammad Amin; School of thought or jurisprudential school is pivot around which the whole system of a certain religious seminary moves. Our religious educational system is established in such a manner by our religious scholars that will produce sect-loving graduates till this system persists. He further added that educating on sectarian grounds is causing the widening of gulf among various religious sects and individuals. It has divided the Muslims ; even media is reporting clashes and brawls among sects. The masjids and Madaris are turned into the den of sectarianism instead of worshipping and devotion to one true Allah.21

Model Dini Madaris work under government control so it is hoped that the graduate of these Madaris would not be fractionized and will help to minimize the level of sectarianism in the country. Therefore, it was quite appropriate to avoid the books of specific school of thought or author but Dini Madaris wing of Ministry of Religious Affairs, published curriculum of Model Dini Madaris in Urdu language (Need, Ordinance, Syllabus), which shows the interesting situation as under: 22

Note: In each of above recommended books, the word “or” is mentioned which provided an option to select any one from the group.

Authors of these books belonging to both schools of thoughts, are equally honorable to us, however, it could be assumed that an attempt had been made to please the followers of both sects through addition of books related with specific sects. That is why, a respectable member of the board Molana Zakir Hussain Shah commented on the curriculum of the Model Madaris as: “I fully agree with this curriculum, it has a number of such books belonging to brailvi school of thought as well as a number of books related to Deobandi School”.23

If books are to be picked on sectarian grounds, then the books of other sects should have been selected also. Probably, this was the reason for the replacement of Urdu translation of Riyadh Al-Saliheen for class 9th. The curriculum committee of PMEB recommended the translation of Ms. Amatullah Tasneem24 which did not had any sectarian affiliation but practically the translation of Hafiz Salah ud Din was published and distributed in Model Madaris who was a renowned Ahl-e-Hadith scholar.

When text books are included in curriculum on sectarian foundations, then, a teacher of Model Madrasah who belongs to a particular school of thought or educational board based on sectarian grounds feels emotionally related to his school of thought.

An honorable member of the board, Mufti Abdul Qavi suggested formation of a research committee to review the pre-designed curriculum of Model Madaris in order to avoid sectarian differences.25

In above mentioned circumstances, it seems appropriate to exclude the books having sectarian impacts while they should be substituted with the latest ones.

4. To Prepare Scholars Having Rational Approach to Contemporary Demands Besides Having Expertise in Qur’an, Hadith and Jurisprudence

The most important objective according to the current needs of the day being the cream of whole of the system is Preparation of such scholars who possess ability of understanding contemporary demands besides having expertise in Qur’an, Hadith & Jurisprudence. No doubt, those Scholars who have deep knowledge of Qur’an, Hadith and Islamic Fiqh, would understand the modern needs. Let us take a glance of course contents, for getting mastery in these subjects, which have been developed for Model Madaris.

The curriculum of these three fundamental subjects i.e. Quran, Hadith & Islamic Jurisprudence, is described in sequence:

1. Syllabus for Qur’an

The Holy Qur’an consists of 30 parts (114 Surah/Chapters) following text of Holy Qur’an is included in the syllabus.

Study of the above table reveals that mostly, same material is taught repeatedly. Presently, thematic study for comprehension of Qur’an is in vogue, which provides guidance not only in understanding Qur’an but in being aware of the current problems of the modern world. However, neither objectives have been determined for syllabus of Qur’an by PMEB nor the translation/exegesis of Qur’an is based on thematic study. Therefore, it looks just a mirage to get expertise in Qur’an’s comprehension by graduates.

b.Expertise in Hadith Literature

For the exegesis and explanation of Holy Qur’an the authentic source is the Hadith of the Prophet (SAW). Therefore, whenever a curriculum was developed in Islamic history, the Hadith got the second important place after the Holy Qur’an. In the following, syllabus of Model Madaris for Hadith is presented:26

It is worth mentioning that Mishkaat ul Masabeeh vol: I & vol: II were recommended as text book for class 11th and class 12th respectively but office of PMEB excluded a large number of chapters from both volumes in 2008 without the approval of academic council and a small number of chapters were left over. Moreover, the contents taught at class 8th & 9th are again selected for teaching with the change of text book. Hence, it is quite clear from the study of Hadith's syllabus that chapters related to etiquettes & manners have been chosen. Similarly, only a single book i.e. Sunan Abi Dawood has been selected among the set of six books of Hadith which is known as Sahah-e-Sitta. Even, at masters level, the left over five books have not been included in syllabus, rather, Saheeh Bukhari and Saheeh Muslim are ignored, too, which are the most authentic source to knowledge after the holy Qur'an.

Consequently, how could above syllabus of the Hadith, being expertise in graduates when they do not have open access to Hadith literature? How they will be able to solve the day to day emerging problems in the light of Prophet (SAW) instructions? So, great expectations from graduates of Model Madaris with the present syllabus of Hadith should not be made as the selected material of Hadith is very small in number to meet the objectives. It is important to include the study of main books of Hadith with the introduction of new trend of thematic approach. Moreover, as per principles of curriculum development, it is quite necessary to determine the specific objectives for subject of Hadith at Middle, Secondary, Higher Secondary, B.A & M.A in order to accomplish the syllabus in the light of these objectives.

c. Mastery over Islamic Jurisprudence

Muslim jurists have codified number of principles for the solution of emerging problems in future in the light of Quran & Sunnah. Due to the efforts of the Muslim jurists, a great deal of Islamic jurisprudence has come into existence. Rapid changing situations of the world and tremendous technological development have deeply impacted human life both, individually and collectively. Each day new issues are emerging and Islamic jurisprudence can provide effective solutions.

Below is the syllabus of model Dini Madaris in respect of Islamic jurisprudence

By studying the syllabus of Islamic jurisprudence, it is noted that students were restricted in issues related to hygiene, sanitation and prayers upto middle level but at once a book of comparative school of thoughts was included at BA level. Interestingly, no heed has been paid towards insertion of modern issues related to Economics, Society, Medicine and modern Banking system etc. Therefore, it is against the rationale to anticipate from graduates of model Madaris to become a role model scholar with the said syllabus of Islamic jurisprudence.

Summary and Suggestions

Patronizing the Islamic education system on the line of modern institutions is an appreciable work on the part of the government. Establishment of Model Madaris is the need of the hour and the credit goes to the Pervez Musharraf who materialized it. However, curriculum for Model Madaris should have been developed according to the standard procedure laid down by constitution of the country i.e. Curriculum Wing, Ministry of Education. Even, if the curriculum had to be developed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA), then it would be better enough to adopt the standard procedure by determining the general objectives of each stage of education (Middle, High, Higher Secondary, BA & MA) and, then by the determination of specific objectives of each subject in the light of former ones. The last step was the development of course according to the specific objectives by experts of subjects. Keeping in view the guidelines of the curriculum development, it might be said that just a list of books has been prepared rather to develop a proper curriculum for these Madaris.

In the light of the study, following suggestions are presented:

1. There should be continuity in the meetings of the PMEB to ponder over the new emerging problems. As per article 7 of the ordinance, after every six months, a meeting of the board should be held. The last meeting of the board was held in January 10, 2004 and for the last eight years no meeting has been held so far by PMEB, which is not a good sign for this elegant project.
2. Article 10 of the ordinance grants a statutory position to Academic Council of PMEB, which looks into the academic matters of model Madaris. There should be consistency between the meetings of the academic council as last meeting of it was held on March 24, 2003 and, even after a long span of time meeting has been conducted by this important body.
3. Curriculum Committee of PMEB, in its meeting held on March 26, 2002, recommended; “A research cell should be established in PMEB, who will look for the solutions of issues relating to practical and textual syllabus”. This suggestion should be acted upon.
4. Committees for subjects should be constituted comprising on the subject specialists of each subject like other educational boards of the country, who will look into the concerned subjects. The meeting of committees should be held, at least, once in a year.

5.Text books developed under the latest principles of curriculum designing should be incorporated in the syllabus; therefore:

a.Applied grammar books should be introduced instead of classical ones.

b.Applied linguistic approach should be utilized in teaching of Arabic literature.

c.Thematic study approach should be followed in instruction of Qur'an and Hadith.

d.New issues and modern topic should be included in Fiqh (jurisprudence).

End Notes:

1.Pervez Aslam Shami, p.1

2.S.M. Shahid, p.133

3.Pervez Aslam Shami, p.3

4.Malak Muhammad Hussain, p.10

5.S.M. Shahid, pp. 155-156

6.Ibid., p.3

7.Ibid., pp. 90-91, Speech in 1st meeting of PMEB held on October 9, 2001 8.Ibid., p.17

9.Ibid., p.2

10.Ordinance, p.1

11.Pehli Salaana Report, p.83, Speech in 1st meeting of PMEB held on October 9, 2001 12 Ibid., p.92

13.Ibid., p.139

14.Ibid., p.82

15.Ibid., p.90

16.Ibid., p.10

17.Manazir Ahsan Gillani, pp.237-238

18.Curriculum of Madaris

19.Saleem Mansoor Khalid, p.303

20.Letter No. F.No.2(20)MDMI, dated 06.7.2005, PMEB, MORA, Islamabad

21.Muhammad Amin, pp.243-244

22 Model Dini Madaris (Need, Curriculum, Ordinance)

23 Pehli Salaana Report, p.96

24 Meeting of Curriculum Committee held on March 26, 2002

25Pehli Salaana Report, p. 97

26 Meeting of Academic Council, Model Education Board held on March 24, 2003

Bibliography:* Amin, Muhammad. Hamara Dini Niazm-e-Taleem. Lahore,: Dar-ul-Ikhlas, 2004.

• Board, Pakistan Madrasah Education. Pehli Salaana Report . Islamabad,: Pakistan Madrasah Education Board, 2002. p.13

• Council, Second Academic. Curriculum of Model Dini Madaris. Islamabad: Pakistan Madrasah Education Board, 2003.

• Gillani, Manazir Ahsan. Pak-o-Hind me Muslamano ka Niazam-e- Taleem-o-Tarbiyyat. Vol. 1. Lahore: Maktaba Rehmania, pp.237-238, n.d.

• Hussain, Malak Muhammad. Afkaar e Moallim, August 2001: 10-15.

• Khalid, Saleem Mansoor. Dini Madaris me Taleem. Islamabad: Institute of Policy Studies, 2004.

• Ministry of Law, Justice, Human Rights & Parliamentary Affairs. Ordinance No. XL of 2001 Islamabad: Government of Pakistan, August 18, 2001.

• Shahid, S.M. Elementary Education. Lahore, Majeed Book Depot, 2012.

• Shami, Pervaz Aslam. Education Measurement: Assessment and Evaluation. Islamabad: National Book Foundation, 2008.