LAHORE, July 21: The School Education Department, Punjab, has decided to incorporate tourism articles and picture stories in the curricula from class I to VIII in all schools of the province.

The curriculum wing, in collaboration with the Tourism Development Corporation of Punjab (TDCP), has evolved these articles which contain basic information about worth seeing historic places of Punjab.

This was disclosed here on Sunday by Minister for Education and Tourism Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan while presiding over a meeting to synchronize both departments for inculcating an interest in the new generation for our own history and the love for nature in Pakistan.

According to a handout, the minister said that a new Archaeology Department would be started at the Sahiwal Campus of COMSATS which would help preserve the Harappa remains and promote research on this 5,000 years old heritage.

“We are committed to exploring hidden treasures of archives in order to attract tourists from all over the world,” he said.

Mr Khan directed to launch an advertisement campaign before holding the next jeep rally in Cholistan, adding that foreign ambassadors should also be invited to witness the event.

He said the next International Tourism Expo would be held in Lahore wherein the Sufi Dance Performance and Chris Pfifer Show should also be included.

Mr Khan directed to adopt Thailand and French models of tourism development in Punjab and also ordered to introduce “Holy Water” from shrines of Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib and Punja Sahib in Hassan Abdal in beautiful packing to export it all over the world.

He directed to provide all necessary facilities to tourists coming for pilgrimage of the Buddhist civilization at Taxila and ordered to un-tap all those historic sites which were yet neglected in the Cholistan desert. He also directed to start a training course for guides.

The minister asked all vice-chancellors of public sector universities in Punjab to make it mandatory for post-graduate students of Archaeology to submit theses about their ancestral towns to promote a deeper sense of our past glory.

The Punjab Tourism Department had reached agreements with the Google Street-view Project and Kanal Turk TV Channel of Turkey for exchange of documentary films on tourism, the minister said.

The meeting was informed that the TDCP-Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management, Lahore, had launched new travel agency courses while the institute had been affiliated with the City and Guild, UK which would result in recognition of all professional courses being taught in the TDCP institute.

MNA Shaista Pervaiz Malik, Secretary School Education Abdul Jabbar Shaheen, Director (E-Government) of Punjab Information Technology Board Sajid Latif, Joint Director Saima Sheikh, Fakeerkhana Museum Director Fakeer Syed Saifuddin, Punjab Education Department Additional Secretary Shahid Zaman, TDCP Managing Director Habibur Rehman Gillani, General Manager Tanveer Jabbar, Tourism Officer Ashfaq Ahmed Dogar, Archaeology Director-General Dr Ismat Tahira and Director Saleemul Haq were also present.