PESHAWAR, Jan 16: The NWFP government has asked the federal ministry of education to allow the federating units of the country to continue with the existing syllabi unless their reservations regarding the draft national syllabi were allayed.

The secretary of schools and literacy department, NWFP, on Tuesday sent a letter to the federal secretary for education, conveying the reservations as well as proposals to be incorporated in Islamiat, Urdu and English subjects prior to approving the draft national curricula.

According to an official, the federal education ministry on Dec 12 had circulated copies of the draft national syllabi among the relevant quarters of the four provinces and sought their comments.

While quoting some of the contents of the letter, the official said the provincial government had acknowledged the efforts of the federal government for incorporating some of its proposals in the draft national curricula.

However, it also expressed reservations on some of the changes and demanded taking into consideration its proposals prior to take any decision in this regard, the official said.

The provincial government had asked the federal authorities that the number of verses in the subject of Islamiat for class 9th and 10th should not be less than 80, which in the draft national curricula had been reduced from 161 to 20.

Likewise, according to the official, the province had demanded that Islamiat should be incorporated as a separate section in the General Knowledge Book being developed for class I and II.

Moreover, the province wants chapters regarding population planning and science to be deleted from the proposed curricula of Urdu subject and suggested their incorporation in the relevant subjects, the official maintained.

The Frontier government termed the incorporation of the Appropriate Ethical and Social Development as fifth competence, unnecessary and demanded its deletion from the draft curricula of the English subject.

The draft national curricula, said the official, was being discussed at the forthcoming Inter Provincial Education Ministers' Conference to be held in Islamabad.

However, owing to reservations on the draft curricula, the NWFP government had asked the federal ministry of education to postpone the ministerial meeting scheduled for January 22, the official added.