Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia, an independent network of 9,000 madrassas in Pakistan, has rejected a proposal to introduce co-education in government-run schools in the Punjab province, according to an Urdu-language daily.
The clerics of the Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia said that the system of co-education, whereby boys and girls sit in the same classroom, will be ‘‘an accomplishment of the Western agenda.’’
The clerics added, “This thinking is against our religious teachings. It is regretted that co-educational institutions create social problems, while our leaders have kept their eyes shut and instead of eliminating the basic roots of crimes, they are trying to promote it.”
According to a report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Islam, Maulana Salimullah Khan, Maulana Abdur Razi, Maulana Anwarul Haq, Maulana Muhammad Hanif Jalandhari and other clerics of the Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia termed the proposal for co-education the “first attempt at secularizing education system’’ in Pakistan.
The clerics urged Shahbaz Sharif, the Chief Minister of Punjab, to promote an education system based on the teachings of Islam, the report added.
Source: Roznama Islam, Pakistan, February 8, 2010
