ISLAMABAD: Quranic education would be declared compulsory for all public and private educational institutions by an act of parliament, it was stated by the Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training to a parliamentary body in the lower house of the parliament. While talking to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training, the Minister of State Engineer Balighur-Rehman said; “The government has declared Quranic education compulsory from grade one to twelve in educational institutions.” He briefed the National Assembly Standing Committee that the students would learn how to read the holy Quran up to grade five and they would complete the reading of the entire Quran at the primary level. The students will learn basic Arabic in grade one, read first the two chapters in grade two, six chapters in grade three, ten chapters in grade four and twelve chapters in grade five. The minister further said that from grade six to twelve, the students would be taught the translation of the Holy Quran. Answering to a question asked by a committee member, the minister clarified that the inclusion of Quranic education into the syllabus is not for private schools and it will not be included in the annual examinations. However, the government is going to pass an act of the parliament to declare Quranic education compulsory for all private and public sector schools, the minister added. State Minister Balighur-Rehman further said that the educational policies of the government were going in a right direction as the enrollment of school children had been increased from 68 per cent to 76 per cent, whereas the total number of the out of school children had also been decreased from 26 million to 24 million. The Committee was also briefed by the Executive Director National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) on the vision, mission and role of the NAVTTC in detail. He informed that under the National Skills Strategy-2009 they had shifted from supply driven to demand driven trainings. He further informed the committee that the government had imposed a cut on the PSDP of the NAVTTC development programmes which is an injustice with the NAVTTC and requested the committee to recommend the federal government to restore the PSDP of NAVTTC and release the required budget in time to continue the trainings programmes across the country, which was endorsed by the committee. While giving a briefing on the merging of the National Training Bureau with the NAVTTC, he apprised the committee that principally it had already been decided by the federal government to merge the NTB with the NAVTTC and to convert the NTB into a centre of excellency. The Director General Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) briefed the committee on its role, functions and achievements in detail. The committee strongly recommended the federal government to increase the salary of the teachers of BECS schools from Rs. 6000 to Rs. 8000 on a priority basis. The committee further recommended the federal government to release the PSDP funding to BECS in time in the coming year. The National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Trainings was held on Tuesday at the Parliament House, Islamabad under the Chairmanship of Col. (R) Dr. Amirullah Marwat, MNA.