ISLAMABAD, April 3: Educational institutions' syllabus must not contain anything that is contrary to tenets of Islam and the ideology of Pakistan, s at educational institutions of the country , says Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali.

He said this while chairing a meeting attended by federal minister for education, all provincial education ministers, federal and provincial secretaries of education, representatives of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the Northern Areas here at the Prime Minister's Secretariat.

Referring to complaints regarding deletion of Quranic verses from the syllabus of 9th and 10th classes, Mr Jamali directed that these verses should be incorporated in the curriculum of 9th and 10th classes by all the provinces.

The meeting also decided that the curriculum for biology for class IX and X, as had previously been approved by the competent forum and circulated in 1995 by the Ministry of Education, in so far it relates to relevant Islamic teachings - awareness of Holy Quran's teachings about animals, plants life and the origins of life may be retained and Quranic verses/translations as they existed in the past may be restored.

The meeting decided that curriculum for biology for class XI and XII as approved and circulated in 2000 by the Ministry of Education may be followed.

The meeting was informed that recommendations regarding curriculum for Islamiyat had been circulated by the Ministry of Education, after consultative process in 2003 to all provinces.

Provincial governments may examine these afresh and recommendations for improvement, if any, may be forwarded to the Ministry of Education at the earliest. "A stable education system imbibed with Islamic values and modern education would ensure an enlightened future generation for our country," said the Premier.

He said that the role of the Federal Ministry of Education is more of a facilitator and resource mobiliser for the implementation of education policy in the country.

The government, he said, had assigned a higher priority to education and allocations for education were increased manifold. "We are concentrating on human resource development and consider it as investment in our future," he added.

The Prime Minister said that one of the objectives of our education policy is to make the Holy Quran's principles and practices an integral part of the education system that would ensure an enlightened future generation of Pakistan.-APP