Madressas to be registered, ministers' discretionary funds abolished: Awan

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Tuesday that the government would discontinue granting discretionary funds to the ministers, ARY News reported.

Addressing a press conference here after a federal cabinet meeting, Awan said that the ministers would now have to bear petty expenses like their water, tea, through their own pocket.

The announcement is apparently a part of austerity drive being championed by the current PTI government.

Addressing the briefing she further elaborated upon the upcoming budget and promised it to be ‘public-friendly’ and in line with the ‘wishes and expectations of the people.’

She said that major decisions were taken and problems ailing the nation were discussed in great detail. in the meeting. “Priorities to eradicated the menace of electricity outages have also been set and finalized.”

She said that a 16-point agenda was discussed and pondered upon with great interest and workable solutions were deliberated upon.

“Directions to ensure hassle-free provision of electricity during Sehar and Iftar have been issued. Power generation problems, petrol and gas prices were also points of discussion in the meeting”, said Awan.

“Bringing religious seminaries under government jurisdiction and their registration was also in the agenda for the meeting; the seminaries will be registered through ‘one-window’ under the Ministry of Education,” stated Awan.

“In the initial phase, 30,000 religious seminaries will undergo the process of registration and regularization, children studying in these places are also owed studying modern disciplines”, she added.

Awan further clarified that religious seminaries will not work directly under the Ministry of Education, rather it would be a collaboration of both the Education Ministry and the clergy.

“Madressas will only be responsible for their registration. Ministry of Education will not hinder the work being done by the seminaries but would rather play a pro-active role in a collaborative manner”, she elaborated.

“Our prime objective is to register the Madressas, we aim to provide the students in the seminaries with their lawful right to education. We want the children studying in these seminaries to understand and grasp the modern education techniques and disciplines so that they too may be in-sync with the challenges of the modern world. Foreign students will also become a vital part of the revamping process and will be selected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”, she said.

The prime minister’s assistant also revealed that the children will go through the process of vocational training which will strengthen to objective of bringing these children into the mainstream. “We want to implement similar course structures and syllabus throughout the country.”

“30,000 religious seminaries are an invaluable human resource for the country.”

SECP’s (Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan) yearly report was also agreed upon by the cabinet, she said. She also announced that new hirings in divisions and ministries will be undertaken in 3 months according to availability and merit.

“No one will be awarded extra charges, moving onwards. Agricultural exchange pact signed with Azerbaijan was also green lighted in the high-level meet up”, informed Awan.