ISLA MABAD Federal Minister for Education Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali has said though the curriculum development is a provincial subject but the Education Ministry is trying to convince the Implementation Commission that it should remain under the Federal Government in order to ensure uniform curriculum. He was speaking at a seminar on Education Sector Budgets on Thursday. Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) and Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE) had organised the seminar. Addressing the seminar, he said the role of Federal Government in education has been reduced in the 18th Amendment while the provincial governments have now acquired a lot more funds and powers. In relation to the impact of 18th Amendment, he said now even the curriculum development is a provincial subject, although the Ministry is trying to convince the Implementation Commission that it should remain under the Federal purview in order to ensure uniform curriculum, which is necessary for nation building. Syeda Sarwat Jahan, Director Elementary Education Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said during the past three years in Swat the girls enrolment was decreased but now the enrolment has increased to 2.2 percent after the operation. She said the enrolment of the boys has gone down in Swat and the girls performance has increased overall in the province despite the lack of facilities. She said during operations hundreds of schools were destroyed and about 20 billion rupees are required to rehabilitate the educational structure in the conflict-hit areas. Tahir Mahmood, Education Minister of Balochistan, said in Balochistan, only three cadet colleges are functional, while another 10 are not functional because of the non-provision of funds by the Federal Government. He said the Federal Government has been delaying the appointment of the Director in Balochistan for National Education Foundation (NEF). In the recent budget, the budget allocations by the Federal Government for education have actually decreased; whereas the provincial allocations have also not increased adequately, as a large percentage of increased budget would be consumed by 50 percent increase in the salaries of employees. Zahra Arshad from PCE demanded comprehensive legislation for implementing right to information and right to education. Mukhtar Ahmad Ali from CPDI spoke about the importance of maximum information disclosure about budget implementation as well as frequent interaction between authorities and civil society groups for collaborative and coordinated initiatives for education sector development.