ISLAMABAD, April 3: The Senate Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination showed concern over the preparation of school curriculum by ministries and subordinate departments, and suggested that the responsibility be shifted to professional teachers.

Chairperson of the committee, Farah Agil, said it was the responsibility of parliamentarians to ensure that the new generation received quality education.

`Private educational institutions have become a mafia. They charge exorbitant fees, making it difficult for the middle and lowermiddle class to educate their children,` she said.

`Schools concentrate on memorising answers rather than understanding them. They also measure the length of answers and notthe content in them,` she added.

Committee members said a mechanism to introduce proper training to teachers was pivotal, and the use of expensive books needed to be discouraged since schools had opted for expensive books rather than quality ones.

Members of the committee expressed concern over the role of private education institutions and on bogus universities which minted money out of the students.

The secretary of the Ministry of Education said 28 educational boards were present in the country of which nine were in Punjab, eight in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, six in Sindh and one in Balochistan.

The committee suggested forming more education boards in Balochistan, and for improved quality of education especially in Balochistan.-