LAHORE, March 26: No change is being made in the curricula of educational institutions in the Punjab to expunge any reference to the ideology of Pakistan from textbooks.

This was stated by Punjab Education Minister Imran Masud while speaking at the inaugural session of a two-day Sir Sayed Youth Conference organized by the Nazaria-i-Pakistan Foundation and the Pakistan Movement Workers Trust here on Friday.

The minister said there was no move to change the curricula or syllabi of educational institutions. "We are not slaves of America. We have our own traditions, culture and religious identity to which we strictly adhere to," he said.

He said an NGO had prepared a research report about sectarianism. The government was under no compulsion to follow the recommendations of the report. The textbooks for students from Class I to V had already been published the distribution of which would start on April 1.

If any changes were to be made in the curricula, the government would have not decided to print the textbooks. He said preparation of curricula was not a provincial subject, but it was the responsibility of the federal education ministry.

The minister said his department had banned performance of all kinds of dances in educational institutions. Federal minister Mahmud Ali, former chief justice of Pakistan Nasim Hasan Shah, former chief justice of the LHC Mian Mahboob, Dr Rafiq Ahmad, Prof Abdul Jabbar and provincial minister Qudsia Lodhi also addressed.oacla9'