The federal education and professional training ministry finalised its proposed syllabi for public educational institutions on Thursday, making a strong pitch for all federating units to introduce the teaching of Quran as a compulsory subject from grade 1 to 12.The final draft of recommendations was submitted by Muhammad Balighur Rehman, the minister of state, before the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) for review.Previously, there was a proposal to make the teaching of Quran compulsory up to 10th grade. The proposed course outline proposes to make recitation of Quran compulsory for students of grade 1 to five as compulsory subject.“In five years, students will be able to recite all of the Quran. It will help reduce the burden on parents who hire a Quran teacher or send their children to maddaris for this purpose,” Rehman told The Express Tribune.Between grade 6 and 12, students will be taught the “easiest Urdu translation of the Holy Book”, Rehman said.“The prospective translation has been finalised by the ministry in consultation with religious scholars of different schools of thought,” the minister said. The version of the translation was so simple that an Urdu teacher “can easily teach it to his or her students”. “Between class six and 10, Quran’s chapters and relevant translation will be taught which tells about incidents and happenings, while in classes 11 and 12 chapters would be taught which tell about Allah’s commands and directions,” he said.Rehman said the federal education ministry had sent the draft of recommendations to all provinces.Talking about necessary legislation, the minister said: “Education of Holy Quran according to Recitation by Sight and with Translation, Learning by Heart and with Correct Pronunciation Bill, 2015” is currently under consideration of the Senate and National Assembly’s standing committees concerned.Both houses of parliament have already adopted resolutions recommending that students between grade 1 and 10 should be taught the Quran, he said.The state minister said the teaching of the Quran would be mandatory only for Muslim students while non-Muslim students would be exempted from the same. “Teaching of Quran will help build the character of students’,” the minister maintained.“Recommendations over the proposed draft of the syllabus will be furnished after its careful review,” chairman of CII Muhammad Khan Sherani said in a statement.Published in The Express Tribune, June 10, 2016.