Sindh-based writer and educator Assadullah Channa, in an article for Pakistan Observer, criticises Pakistan for repeatedly failing to reform its madrassa education system, calling it a long-standing national weakness shaped by clerical control and political timidity. He argues that despite decades of pledges and several reform campaigns, madrassas still function outside government regulation, operating as religious and ideological centres disconnected from modern needs.

The Pakistan Observer notes that madrassas remain vital for many low-income families, offering free schooling, food, and accommodation. Yet Channa warns that their increasing independence, combined with the state’s inability to oversee them, has created a system resistant to modernisation and vulnerable to radical ideas.

From Ayub Khan’s 1961 attempt to introduce modern subjects, to Musharraf’s 2003 Madrasah Reform Project, to the 2014 National Action Plan, every reform effort has been blocked by powerful clerical groups. Channa says successive governments have avoided challenging religious leaders because they depend on them for political support. This reliance has made clerical organisations untouchable, enabling them to oppose reforms in the name of protecting Islam.

According to the article, this has resulted in a parallel education system producing graduates disconnected from Pakistan’s economic and social realities. The issue, Channa stresses, is not only administrative but ideological, as many madrassas still promote rigid, exclusivist teachings hostile to pluralism. Even after international pressure and tragedies like the 2014 Peshawar school attack, reform attempts have been inconsistent and short-lived. Channa concludes that without sustained political resolve and willingness from religious leaders to adapt, madrassa education will remain stagnant, holding back national development and reinforcing extremism.