LAHORE, Sept 8 The Punjab School Education Department has made it compulsory for all students of government and private registered schools to sit grade V and VIII examinations organised by the Punjab Examination Commission (PEC).
From April 1 next year, government schools will admit only those students in class VI and IX who have passed grade-V and VIII examinations organised by the PEC.
Privately schools registered for 'O' and 'A' levels affiliated with foreign examinations bodies will be exempted for this year.
The Schools Education Department has decided to implement the 'Policy of Grade-V and Grade-VIII Examinations, 2010' to promote the uniform system of examination and upgrade the existing system of grade V and VIII examinations across Punjab.
The department states that all executive district officers (education) will be responsible for smooth conduct of examinations and fair marking of answer-sheets. They will also be responsible for arranging halls, furniture, drinking water and toilets for candidates.
As far as possible, examination centres will be established in high and higher secondary schools. Elementary and primary schools can only be considered if there is no high school in the vicinity. The standard strength of a centre will be between 200 to 300 candidates. In the urban area, the centres of less than 200 candidates will not be established. Only in exceptional cases in rural areas, centres can be established for 100 girl candidates. These centres will be given permanent status. The notified examination centres will not be changed without the approval of the PEC.
The marking of answer sheets will be carried out in other tehsils/towns of the district in such a manner that tehsils are not inter-changed. The 60 per cent of answer sheets will be marked through computers.
It is learnt that the grade-V annual examination for 2010 will be held in the first week of February next and grade-VIII examination in the second week of February. The results of both examinations will be declared on March 31. The PEC expects that some 2.3 million students will appear for these examinations every year.
The incentive award for teachers and scholarships to students will be determined on the basis of these examination results.
The students of government schools, Punjab Education Foundation schools and registered private schools can submit registration and admission forms free of cost from Sept 10 (tomorrow) till Nov 10 this year. The Punjab government itself will provide Rs2 registration fee per student to the PEC.
The PEC will provide question papers in both Urdu and English languages for Urdu and English medium students. Question papers will be set on the basis of solo taxonomy and learning outcomes to meet international standards. The commission's previous examinations' question-papers have been uploaded at commission's website www.pec.edu.pk.
In order to hold these examinations in a transparent manner, the PEC will also appoint over 3,000 field inspectors for monitoring.
On the instructions of the chief minister, the PEC has enhanced examiners' remunerations by five times, while the examination supervisory staff remuneration has also been enhanced.
An examination superintendent, examination invigilator, resident inspector, mobile inspector, paper-marker, head examiner and class-IV employees will be given remuneration at the rate of Rs400 per day, Rs200, Rs500, Rs400, Rs5, Rs5 per paper plus 10 per cent incentive and Rs100 per day.