PESHAWAR, May 26: Speakers at a one-day seminar have rejected changes made in education curriculum and urged the government to stop using new books in schools. The seminar was organized by the Islami Jamiat Talaba on "The Curriculum Changes and Our Needs" here at the Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday.

The event was attended by leaders of different political parties, provincial ministers, teachers and students. Speakers of the seminar included NWFP Senior Minister Sirajul Haq, Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) Secretary-General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, parliamentary leader of the unified Pakistan Muslim League in the provincial assembly Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, Awami National Party (ANP) vice-president Mohammad Adeel, Education Minister Fazli Ali Haqqani and some social activists.

Zafar Iqbal Jhagra urged upon the government to introduce a uniform education system, because the class-based education had created an inferiority complex in the middle class as well as among the poor who were studying in the government institutions.

Senior Minister Sirajul Haq termed changes in the curriculum attack on Pakistan. He said infidels were using all their resources for their nefarious designs.

He blamed the federal government for omitting a chapter on Jihad from school textbooks at the behest of the US. Awami National Party leader Mohammad Adeel lashed out at the federal government and its education policies for the omission of Quranic verses and Hadith from textbooks.

Mushtaq Ghani urged upon students to give suggestions to devise better education policies. Peshawar University Teachers Association (Puta) President Arbab Afridi also spoke on the occasion.