Integration of Madrassh Islamic Seminary Education With Formal Education System in Pakistan: Challenges and Opportunities

ABSTRACT: Extremism remains the main concern for global security after 9/11 event. Western countries consider the religious intolerance in Muslim countries as a source of prevailing extremism. Pakistani Madaris (seminaries) are considered as a place for indoctrination of extremism and intolerance. The questions need to be addressed that why and how religious students tended towards extremism. The evidence shows that in Pukhtoon Society; the traditional social institutions of Hujra (Community center) and Jumaat (Mosque) relationship is also affected in post Afghan Soviet war. Hujra (Pukhtoon Community centre) which is traditionally the main supporter and financer of Jumaat (Mosquereligious institution) ; now seems to be overpowered by the religious institutions after getting trained and motivated organized Taliban (students of Indigenous Islamic Education System) and financial freedom after Afghan Soviet war. In this paper the question of legal status given to Taliban and their education status by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is discussed. For exploring to answer this question both primary and secondary sources of data are used. The study concluded that no properly defined legal status exists for the millions of Taliban graduates in the state; and the aspired streamlining efforts of Madaris with formal education are non productive and ineffective. Even the supreme court of Pakistan is unanswered about the legal status of these graduates. Legislators elected in 2002 National Election faced cases in Supreme Court of Pakistan of their ineligibility based on the in¬ equivalency of their Madaris Sanad (Degree) to the formal University Degree of Pakistan. Government of Pakistan tried to mainstream Madaris education with formal education system of Pakistan, through changing their curricula which is all time resisted by Madaris. It is concluded at the end of the study of integrating Madaris education with formal education system in vertical arrangement rather than in horizontal or lateral arrangement (change of curriculum and amalgamation of courses etc.) . The approach of Vertical arrangement acknowledge the importance and value of both systems and provide benefits to the stakeholders in large. Different modalities are discussed in this paper.

Rhizobacterial Mediated Induction of Phytoalexins in Rice to Suppress Blast Disease and Enhance Yield

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria are being widely utilized in agriculture due to their biopesticide and biofertilizer potential. The indigenous PGPR inhabiting certain hosts can act as potent bioinoculants due to their native habitat and acclimatization to the environment. In current study, rhizobacterial mediated suppression of blast disease was investigated. Four hundred and fifty indigenous isolates were obtained from rice rhizosphere to assess their antagonism towards rice blast pathogen Pyricularia oryzae. Only 100 isolates showed antagonistic activity. Twenty out of 100 isolates inhibited the mycelium growth of P. oryzae by 30–65% in vitro. Five strains, KFP-5, KFP-7, KFP-12, KFP- 17 and KFP-18, showing 63–65% antagonism towards P. oryzae, were tested for the production of biocontrol determinants and suppression of blast disease in rice plants. The antagonistic strains produced various biocontrol determinants such as the hydrolytic enzymes, protease, glucanase and cellulase with solubilization zone diameters of 10–19, 4.2–14.5 and 2–13.5 mm respectively and siderophores with zone diameter of 7–12 mm. The antagonistic strains also solubilized potassium, phosphorus and zinc from inorganic sources with solubilization zones of 2.1–3.2, 2.3–3.6 and 1.7-2.9 mm respectively. Three antagonistic strains, KFP-5, KFP-7 and KFP-17 significantly suppressed blast disease with a disease score 1.1–1.9 and increased yield of rice grown in pot. The antagonistic strains, KFP-5, KFP-7 and KFP-17 significantly induced the antioxidant enzymes against P. oryzae infection in rice and secrete biocontrol determinants in rhizosphere. They induced the activity of superoxide dismutase (1.7-1.9 fold), peroxidase (3.5-4.1 fold), polyphenol oxidase (3.0-3.8 fold), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (3.9-4.4 fold), in rice leaves and roots under hydroponic and soil conditions. The antagonistic strains also secreted multiple biocontrol determinants like protease (1.1-5.5 U/mg of soil or U/mL of hydroponic solution), glucanase, (1.0-1.3 U/mg of soil or U/mL of xii hydroponic solution), siderophores (6.5-42.8 µg/mL or mg) in the rhizosphere of different rice varieties. These antagonistic strains also exhibited bio efficacy under field conditions. They significantly reduced disease severity by 40-52% with grain yield of 3.2-3.9 ton ha-1 in rice. The bioantagonists significantly colonized the rice rhizosphere with a cell population of 2.40E+06-5.6E+07 CFU/g of soil. Rice plants treated with antagonistic bacterial suspension followed by challenge inoculation with P. oryzae were found to have higher enzymatic activities like superoxide dismutase (308-266 Ug-1 FW), peroxidase (change in absorbance (∆A) = 0.20-0.71 min-1 g-1FW), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (∆A = 0.32-0.59 min-1 g-1 FW) and polyphenol oxidase (∆A = 0.29-0.58 min-1 g-1 FW). A consistent performance of the strains was observed during consecutive two years. The potent antagonistic strains were identified as Bacillus spp. strains KFP-5 (Gene bank Accession No KT380825), Bacillus spp. KFP-7 (Gene bank Accession No KT380826) and Bacillus spp. KFP-17 (Gene bank Accession No KJ719446) by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. These findings suggest that indigenous Bacillus spp. could be a potential bioinoculum for rice to control blast diseases and enhance yield.