23 May 2004	Sunday	03 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

ISLAMABAD, May 22: The federal minister for education, Zobaida Jalal, has directed the provincial textbook boards that No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Federal Curriculum Wing (FCW) is a must before printing textbooks, sources said.

The directives were issued during a meeting of the National Review Committee on Curriculum here on Saturday. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid, Sindh education minister Irfanullah Marwat, NWFP education minister Maulana Fazl-e-Ali and representatives of Punjab and Balochistan attended the meeting.

"To avoid errors, which every now and then are pointed out in the curriculum, the FCW would make it sure that no mistake of whatever nature should go to the printing", the minister was quoted as saying.

During the meeting, it was also decided that unlike previous practice provincial textbook boards would float tenders in the press for the printing of textbooks. They (boards) would keep 30 to 40 per cent of the accepted bid till the printing of books, which would be confiscated, if printers were found guilty of making errors in the original draft.

She also pressed the provincial education managers to immediately rectify errors if any, in collaboration with the curriculum wing of the federal ministry.

However, there was consensus among the participants of the meeting that present curriculum was fully in accordance with the Constitution of the country and nothing was against Islamic injunctions and national ideology.

The chairperson of Punjab text books, Dr Fauzia Saleemi, informed the meeting that federal education ministry never issued any directive to exclude or include lessons on national ideology and Islamic teachings.

It is worth mentioning here that a number of errors were detected in the textbooks of Punjab text book board over the last couple of years.

According to sources at the ministry, an inquiry committee was constituted recently to probe the alleged irregularities and embezzlement in Punjab text book board.

The committee, the sources said, completed its inquiry and found Ms Fauzia guilty of the said charges, however, was not making the report public due to unknown reasons.

According to the sources, Ms Fauzia has already applied for ex-Pakistan leave for three months, which has been accepted.

When contacted the federal minister for education, Zobaida Jalal in this regard said, "Ms Fouzia has accepted that she is responsible for errors in the curricula".

However, as far as the charges of corruption were concerned, the Punjab chief minister had already ordered an inquiry to probe the charges in the Punjab Text Book Board.

The report of the inquiry would soon be finalized and strict action would be taken against those who were found guilty, she said.

The Sindh education minister assured the meeting that all the errors in the textbooks would be removed on emergency grounds. NWFP minister for education said uniformity of the curriculum was a national issue and should not be mixed up with politics.