PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday was informed that the degree of ‘Shahadat-ul-Alamia’ which is considered equivalent to the Master’s degree will be made acceptable to apply for primary school teacher (PST) posts.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Sardar Aurangzab Nalotha informed the House about the problems of students qualified by Wifaq-ul-Madaris. He said such students’ degree is equivalent to Master of arts, but primary education department does not give them numbers proportionate to qualification.

The House also unanimously passed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission Amendment Bill 2020. Speaker KP Assembly Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani chaired the session during which Law Minister Sultan Muhammad Khan introduced the bill.

Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra told the House that the KP government has taken a strong stand for getting its share in oil and gas royalty in the meeting of the Common Council of Interests (CCI). He said Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed to pay the windfall levy share to the province. He said the premier has also directed the Finance Ministry to ensure payment of pending arrears to all the provinces since 2012.

Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani constituted a special committee to analyse the probe being conducted relating to changes in the Islamyat book of Grade IV.

The committee was set up on a call attention notice of Awami National Party (ANP) leader Khushdil Khan, who drew the attention of House towards changes in the Islamyat book. He said the House was told by the concerned minister that an inquiry was underway into the matter.

Law Minister Sultan Muhammad Khan informed the House that both the treasury and opposition benches are on same page over the matter.

He said the responsible had been identified, who would be prosecuted according to the law. He said errors in the book had also been corrected.

On ANP leader Khushdil Khan’s request for formulation of a parliamentary committee to review steps of the government, the law minister said the government had no objection over the proposal.

Speaker Mushtaq Ghani sought the inquiry report on Monday and handed over the matter to the special committee for further action.