April 28, 2006	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 29, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 27: The Islamabad Private Schools Regulatory Authority Bill will soon be presented to parliament for approval, Federal Education Minister Javed Ashraf Qazi said here on Thursday.

He was talking to the mediapersons at the conclusion of “Education for All” (EFA) walk that started from the State Life building, China Chowk, and ended at the parade ground. The walk was organised by the education ministry in collaboration with Unesco.

Hundreds of schoolchildren both from private and public schools participated in the walk. They were holding placards inscribed with slogans underlining the importance of education.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Qazi, who was also accompanied by State Minister for Education Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli, said that the bill was ready to be presented to parliament to solve the issue of private schools.

All the four provinces have their own legal arrangements for regularization of private schools. However, the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) is lacking such arrangements.

The mushrooming of private schools in the ICT over the last one decade has forced the education ministry to constitute an authority to regulate the private schools.

In response to a question, the minister said that the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) will head the authority. Earlier, there were reports that the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) director-general would look after the authority.

Talking to the participants of the walk, the minister said, the government was committed to ensuring an honourable status for the teachers in the society. He said that efforts were being made to provide a respectable status to the teachers through various incentives, as they played a crucial role in grooming students to meet the modern challenges. Special attention is being paid to revise the salary structure of the teachers, he added.

Speaking about the provision of quality education, the minister said that a committee, comprising teachers, educationists and experts, was reviewing the syllabus to bring it on a par with the international standards.

Mr Qazi said that a scheme for preparation of syllabus had already been prepared and would soon be sent to the provincial educational departments for approval.

The minister said that the ministry would make a request to the financial managers to increase the funding of President Education Reforms Programme (PERP) in the next budget that currently stood at Rs1 billion.

He said the main thrust of the reforms was on imparting technical education at school and college level that had been blatantly ignored in the past. It was due to this reason that the country is lacking skilled manpower, the minister added.