ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: Federal Education Minister Lt-Gen (retired) Javed Ashraf Qazi has criticized the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) for giving schools and colleges under the jurisdiction of district governments.

He was briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Education, which met at the Parliament House with Razina Alam in the chair on Tuesday.

"Policy making at the higher education level comes under the jurisdiction of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the transfer of schools and colleges to district governments will make the provincial education departments redundant," the minister argued.

He was of the view that the degree-level colleges should lie with provincial governments as districts did not have enough funding at their disposal to run them in an effective manner.

The minister said he would take up the issue with the NRB chief. Briefing the committee on the curriculum review committee, the minister admitted that at present there was no framework for curriculum development. However, he assured the committee that in the proposed curriculum review committee such issues would be effectively addressed. The participants of the meeting were of the view that the present curriculum needed to be changed according to the modern day needs.

"Educationists would be hired on contract in the MP-I and MP- II grades with 'attractive' packages so that they could concentrate on their work and we get the best available talent," he said.

One of the participants said while reviewing the curriculum it should be kept in mind that the present education system had failed to check corruption and corrupt practices among the educated community of the country.

About the regulation of the private schools in the federal capital territory, the minister said the proposed regulatory body would help regulate private schools as all the provinces had already done it through ordinances.

He said the constitution of the regulatory body had been worked out after extensive consultations with the school owners as well as parents, and it would soon be forwarded to the cabinet for approval.