The federal governmentâs madrassa reforms plan has been temporarily suspended after the provinces expressed reservations about the plan and suggested revisions in the policy. Senior government officials told Daily Times that the four provinces had reported their reservations and suggestions to the federal government many weeks ago, but there had been no deliberations on these. The four provinces, on the other hand, had not submitted reports on their implementation of the previous phase of madrassa reforms and expenditures, for which they received Rs 490 million from the federal government in fiscal 2004-05. The recently constituted Wafaqul Maddaris Board, to be chaired by the federal education minister and including the federal religious affairs minister and interior minister as members, has yet to start functioning formally. There is also still uncertainty about the exact number of madrassas in the country. âA questionnaire is being prepared and will be circulated soon,â said one government official. According to a previous report, there are around 11,000 registered madrassas in Pakistan, while Education Ministry officials say there are 8,000 registered madrassas. âThe interior, religious affairs and education ministries have different figures of the number of registered madrassas, which will be corrected soon,â the official said.