ISLAMABAD, May 18: The federal cabinet has deferred its decision on amendment to section 4 of the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) Act 1975, official sources told Dawn on Sunday.

The education ministry has sought amendment to the section to ensure uniform syllabus and quality of education in the Board and the federally-administered educational institutions.

At present, there are a number of federally-administrated organizations which are running their educational institutions but have affiliation with regional intermediate and secondary education boards.

Therefore, the federal education ministry to ensure uniformity in syllabus and quality of education has asked the federal government to amend section 4 of the FBISE to award board affiliation to educational institutions being run by the federally-administrated organizations.

According to the sources, the cabinet has directed the federal education ministry to get the views of the provincial governments in this regard as education is basically a provincial subject.

They said only recently the cabinet was informed that 828 institutions were at present affiliated with the FBISE, whereas some of the federally-administrated organizations, like the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Wapda, Pakistan Rangers, Frontier Crops and Armed Forces-run educational institutions in various parts of the country, were affiliated with various regional boards.

These organizations also want their educational institutions affiliated with the FBISE to ensure uniformity and educational standards.

The sources said that about 50 requests had been received which could not be accommodated unless section 4 of the FBISE Act 1975 was amended.

During the cabinet meeting, a concern was expressed that people would have to travel from far-off areas to Islamabad to get their certificates if these institutions were affiliated with the FBISE.

A question was also raised about the capacity of the FBISE to handle so many institutions which at present are working at a very limited scale.

It was also pointed out that the affiliation of the Armed Forces’ educational institutions with the federal board would be beneficial for the parents belonging to the Army as their children would have the facility of uniformity in syllabus and examination system around the country.

With regard to the complaints of overseas Pakistanis about high fees in the Pakistani schools abroad, it was stated that the chairman, FBISE, had gone to Gulf countries to address the issue.

In response to a query whether the views of the provinces on the issue of affiliation with the federal board had been obtained, it was explained that the regional boards which were represented on the inter-board of committee of chairmen (IBCC) had conveyed their no objection to the affiliation of these institutions with the FBISE.

This was, however, not considered adequate and it was decided that views of the provincial governments should be obtained in this regard.