RAWALPINDI, April 8: President General Pervez Musharraf, taking a serious notice of the malicious statements by vested interests in the Press about the so-called issue of the education curriculum, and he convened a meeting here on Thursday.

The meeting found some inconsistencies in the books developed by the Punjab Textbook Board. However, it was observed that these were being exaggerated unnecessarily by vested interests.

The inconsistencies will be communicated by the Federal Ministry of Education to the Government of Punjab for appropriate action. The chief minister of Punjab will look into the affairs of the Punjab Textbook Board.

Addressing the meeting, the President said Islamic Studies and Pakistan Movement can neither be ignored nor relegated as they have primacy in the country's education curricula, which cannot be changed.

"There should be no doubt in anyone's mind on that score," he asserted. He said Pakistan is a state founded on Islamic ideology and it is extremely irresponsible for anyone to suggest that the government relegated Islamic Studies and Pakistan Movement in the curricula.

The meeting decided that de-regulation of printing of textbooks, as decided by the cabinet on 21-3-2001 and deregulation of development, printing and publication of textbooks as per cabinet decision on August 17, 2002, be enforced in letter and spirit and uniformly across the country.

The purpose of this initiative is to improve the quality of printing and reduce their prices. The meeting was informed that the mandate of the federal ministry of education is only to finalize and approve the curricula.

The printing, authoring and production are all provincial matters and are carried out by the provincial textbook boards. The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Education Zobaida Jalal, Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad and others. -APP