LAHORE, April 21: The National Committee on Curriculum has decided in principle that private schools will be required to obtain an NOC from the ministry of education (curriculum wing) to teach their courses.

This was stated by Punjab Education Minister Imran Masood while talking to reporters after the first convocation of the Government College for Women, Gulberg, on Wednesday.

Mr Masood, who attended a committee meeting in Islamabad which was presided over by federal minister Zubaida Jalal, said the decision was taken in the wake of situation that different schools were offering their 'own' curricula and textbooks.

The minister said the committee also agreed that the correspondence between the ministry's curriculum wing and provincial textbook boards would be routed through their respective education secretaries.

In the existing situation, he said the provincial secretaries were isolated with regard to the affairs of the ministry's curriculum wing and the textbook boards. "Only a section officer used to discuss affairs of the curriculum wing and the textbook boards and issue NOC," he said.

Mr Masood said the committee also decided that an author of a textbook, who is an employee of the textbook board, could not author the same book second time. He said every author of a textbook was granted royalty of the book. The minister said the education department would also conduct a research that how much royalties were being extended to the authors.