SWABI, April 5: Senior NWFP Minister Sirajul Haq said on Monday that the government had failed to introduce a sound education system in the country as different systems were being followed at different levels of education.

Speaking at a function at a public school here, the minister said different curricula were being taught at different institutions. The curriculum of religious institutions was entirely different from that of the public-sector schools, he lamented.

Similarly, he said, private institutions had different curricula having separate courses. "Our education system does not meet our requirements," he said. Due to different curricula and courses, people produced by these institutions shared nothing, Mr Sirajul Haq said, adding that these people neither shared common cultural values nor bridged class difference.

"The government has failed to introduce a uniform curriculum in education institutions," he said. Mr Haq added that there was an urgent need to introduce a uniform curriculum in all education institutions which would provide an opportunity to the children of low and middle class to compete with the affluent class.

Due to high admission and tuition fee in private education institutions it was not possible for common man to admit his children to these centres, he added. During the ongoing year, he said, the government had distributed free books among the primary school students and planned to provide free uniform from the next year.

The minister, who also holds the portfolio of provincial finance minister, stressed the need for strengthening economy, saying without strengthening economy it was not possible to get liberated from the clutches of the World Bank. "At present, we follow the dictates of the World Bank and cannot adopt independent policies. Financial institutions adopt their policies according to the World Bank guidelines," he claimed.