PESHAWAR, July 4: The NWFP Assembly on Monday approved a bill unanimously amending certain laws to bring some institutions related to education under the control of the chief minister from the governor. The bill was moved by MPAs Khalid Wiqar Chamkani and Maulana Mohammad Idrees. Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan allowed the movers to table their bills by suspending the Rules of Business.

The NWFP Textbook Board, the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education, the Frontier Education Foundation, the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency and functioning of private educational institutions in the province will now come under the control of the chief minister.

The aim of the bill is to transfer the powers from the governor to the chief minister.

Provincial Education Minister Maulana Fazle Ali said the bill had been passed to streamline the working of the institutions.

He said that earlier the education department had to hold discussions with the governor on the functioning of the institutions, which took a lot of time.—APP