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Pakistani Christians demand education quota 

Muslim students get extra points during admission in formal or technical educational institutions but not Christians
Pakistani Christians demand education quota 

Pakistani Christian addressing media during a July 22 protest in front of the Lahore Press Club. (Photo supplied) 

Published: July 25, 2017 06:06 AM GMT
Updated: July 25, 2017 11:00 AM GMT

Christians in Pakistan are lobbying for an admission quota for non-Muslim students to be imposed in government-run colleges and universities.

"Higher education is our right. It is the responsibility of the government to announce a 5 percent education quota for minority students," said Zahid Nazir Bhatti,  chairman of the Pakistan Minorities Unity Council.

"The literacy rate of Christians in Pakistan is very low. We shall keep protesting if our demand is not met," he said while addressing media during a July 22 protest in front of the Lahore Press Club.

Last week, a delegation of Christian human rights activists and journalists met Habibi ur Rehman, the provincial minister for religious affairs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and shared similar concerns.  

Discriminatory education policies and hate material in the school syllabus have been major concerns for the church in Pakistan.

 

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government in 1992 allowed for every student who memorizes the Quran be given 10 to 20 extra points during admission in formal or technical educational institutions. Such candidates are also granted 5 to 10 extra marks while being recruited for government jobs.

But a similar criterion does not exist for Christian, Hindu or Sikh students.

In 2012 and 2005, the Pakistani bishops' National Commission for Justice and Peace pursued writ petitions for a Christian student in the Lahore High Court against the rule but there has been no decision so far.

Retired Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha of Lahore had demanded that Christian religious education be made equivalent to that of learning the Quran. 

Christ for Pakistan Ministries Bishop Yaqub Paul, one of the protester's said Christian youth are "disadvantage by faith. Our youth are losing hope."

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