The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has decided to make Quranic Studies a compulsory subject for Matriculation and Intermediate.
This decision was taken on the orders of the Peshawar High Court (PHC).
A 75 marks examination for the subject will also be added to the existing subjects in the 2023 annual Matriculation and Intermediate examinations, which will increase the total marks from 1,100 to 1,225.
Students belonging to religious minority communities in the province will study the additional Ethics-based subject in place of Quranic Studies. The number of compulsory subjects will be increased to five after this addition.
The Boards of Education have also sought recommendations from the Directorate of Education regarding the 75-mark paper to be included in the 2023 annual examinations.
Additionally, the provincial education department has also directed the higher education department to implement this decision and has sent recommendations for the teaching of the subject in colleges.
Teaching and learning of Quranic Studies is already in practice in KP from the primary level to the eighth grade. An appeal was submitted to the PHC for the subject to be made compulsory and for a formal examination for it to be conducted as well. The court took a decision in response to the appeal recently by making the subject compulsory.
