ISLAMABAD, Feb 9: The Federal Minister for Education, Lt-Gen (retired) Javed Ashraf on Friday said that with the timely and successful implementation of the reforms initiated in the social, economic and education systems of the country, Pakistan is well on its way to a respectable position in the world.

The minister was briefing a six-member delegation of the members of the House of Commons of the British Parliament and Intelligence and Security Committee on the reforms introduced by the government in education sector on Friday.

He said free education along with free textbooks for the children had been introduced.

New scheme of studies was prepared and approved by all the provinces, computer education from class 6 had been declared compulsory and added that English along with Urdu had been declared as a compulsory subject from class 1 in all the schools.

The team led by Ms Dari Tylor, MP, met him in his office.

The minister said that President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had ensured balanced, forward looking, and updated education system in the country.

The minister said that every effort had been made to bring quality and uniformity in the education system of the country by implementing the new scheme of studies all over the country.

The minister maintained that new national curriculum was free of any biases, hate, sectarianism and repetitions. Medical technology and computer science groups had been introduced in the new curriculum and the curriculum had been made compatible with any advanced country.