Muslim Majorities Development: Schools, Universities and Seminaries

Summary

Muslim-majority states are contesting control over religious and mainstream education — Pakistan over seminary oversight, Egypt over Al-Azhar's autonomy — while learning poverty remains severe across the Middle East and South Asia.

What it argues

1. Pakistan's seminary bill standoff

   JUIF leader Fazal-ur-Rehman is pressing the government to approve a bill shifting seminary registration from the Education Ministry back to district officials. President Zardari raised objections and Prime Minister Sharif's government has since balked, despite having passed the bill alongside the 26th constitutional amendment in October 2024. A deal struck to pass a constitutional amendment is now destabilising the ruling coalition.

2. Military's shadow over seminaries

   ISPR chief Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said over half of Pakistan's seminaries are unregistered with unknown funding sources. Analyst Majid Nizami says the decision ultimately rests with the military establishment rather than political parties. Seminary oversight in Pakistan is treated as a security matter commanded by the military, not just politics.

3. Al-Azhar versus Egypt's presidents

   In 2017, Egyptian parliamentarian Muhammad Abu Hamed proposed limiting the grand imam's tenure and expanding presidential influence over Al-Azhar's governing bodies, per Carnegie's Nathan Brown. Al-Azhar mobilised religious and nationalist support and the bill was shelved, though Brown notes the institution has since trodden more carefully. Al-Azhar has so far withstood repeated attempts by Egypt's presidency to tighten control over it.

4. Seminary registration law history

   Seminaries were registered under the 1860 Societies Registration Act with no state curriculum or financial oversight, Al Jazeera reports. After the 2014 Peshawar school attack and FATF grey-listing, Pakistan created the Directorate General of Religious Education in 2019, registering over 18,000 seminaries and two million students. Pakistan built federal oversight of seminary finances and curricula only after security and financial-compliance pressure.

5. Global learning poverty crisis

   UNICEF and the World Bank report that COVID-19 school closures sharply worsened an already severe pre-pandemic learning crisis. A World Bank regional tracker estimates 78 percent of South Asian 10-year-olds cannot read and understand an age-appropriate text. Children across South Asia are growing up largely unable to read with comprehension.

6. Pakistan's literacy shortfall

   The World Bank puts Pakistan's learning poverty at 80 percent, with 70 percent of students missing minimum reading proficiency by grade four. Girls are more likely to be out of school (38 percent versus 26 percent of boys), while boys who do attend are more likely to fail to reach proficiency. Pakistan combines one of the world's largest out-of-school populations with deep gender-differentiated learning gaps.

7. Arabic teaching and reading outcomes

   A World Bank report finds MENA children have little exposure to Modern Standard Arabic before school and few books or libraries at home. Andreas Blom of the World Bank says Arabic teaching remains rule-focused and lacks the playfulness needed for children to engage with reading. The gap between spoken dialects and classroom Arabic is identified as a driver of the region's learning poverty.

8. Pakistan's education underfunding

   Pakistan spends about 2.5 percent of GDP on education, well below the estimated 5.4 percent needed to enrol and educate all children, per the World Bank. Primary education spending per child is 66 percent below the South Asian average. Low public investment is identified as a core constraint on Pakistan's education outcomes.