Islamabad: Pakistan plans to take control of a network of over 30,000 Madrasas and bring them into the mainstream education system. A military spokesperson said this would help curb extremism.

In a press conference in Rawalpindi on Monday, Major General Asif Ghafoor reportedly said that Pakistan had witnessed a surge in religious seminaries from 247 madrasas in 1947 to 2,861 in 1980. He said, “And now there are over 30,000 madrasas. Out of these, at least 100 are involved in propagating terrorism.”

The military spokesman added that Pakistan had already taken several measures to control and bring the seminaries under the mainstream education. Students will receive a degree that is associated with the education board.

“All madrasas will be brought under the Ministry of Education so that contemporary subjects can be taught. We will formulate a syllabus which will not have hate speech and students will be taught respect for different sects,” he said adding that, “In February, money was allotted to bring the seminaries into the mainstream. To control the welfare activities of proscribed organisations, the government has made a system to mainstream their social activities.”

Ghafoor said to bring the madrasas into the mainstream, they will have to start teaching other subjects so that students have skills other than religious studies.

Last month, the government announced it had taken control of 182 religious schools and detained more than 100 people as part of its biggest push against banned groups.

Security services have kept a close eye on madrasas associated with radicalizing youths and feeding recruits to Islamist militant outfits that have killed tens of thousands of people in the South Asian country since 2000.

“The benefit will be that when children grow and leave these institutions they will have the same career opportunities that those coming from a private school have,” Ghafoor said.

“We want to end violent extremism in Pakistan and that will only happen when our children have the same education and opportunities.”

He added that madrasa legislation would be presented in parliament in another month and that would be followed by a finalised syllabus, appointment of teachers and allocation of finances.