DON’T blame primary and middle-class teachers for poor results of Class V and Class VIII examinations because it is the policies of the Punjab Examination Commission (PEC) which is ruining the lives of millions of poor students whose parents are unaware of the reality. So parents should not blame teachers for the misery of their children.

The PEC has just introduced a system which does not promote writing skills of students of initial stages, as they are given multiple-choice question papers which need analytical skills.

I personally met a teacher of a primary school who told me that they were facing a number of inspection teams on a daily basis, including retired army personnel comprising subedars and havaldars. They want 100 per cent results from teachers.

Thus to show good results teachers themselves help students cheat in examinations to get the desired results. The final loss is that of students who get stuck in the SSC examinations, which are conducted by different boards across the province.

There have been cases of massive cheating at various examination centres in different parts of the province while the lack of facilities has greatly irked students and their parents.

At the moment parents are happy as their children do not fail in Class V and Class VIII examinationss because of help from teachers.

The Punjab Examination Commission, established some a few years back, is mandated by the Punjab government to conduct Class V and Class VIII examinations on a uniform basis across the province. Every year the PEC faces criticism for mismanagement in conducting examinations.

Millions of students who will not qualify in the 2013 annual examinations will have to wait for an entire year to retake examinations as the commission does not offer supplementary examinations.

The PEC examines over two million students almost every year. It has been facing severe criticism for poorly conducting examinations ever since its inception.

Its performance can also be gauged from the fact that some years back the Punjab government had to promote all the candidates who appeared in Class V and Class VIII examinations regardless of their results when the PEC failed to ensure transparency in conducting examinations.

Almost every year the PEC gives grace marks to thousands of students who are then promoted to the next class.

The purpose of providing education to children is not to help them in cheating but to make sure that they achieve intellectual growth and have the ability to think and make decisions for themselves. If a teacher and a school do not aim at achieving this purpose, they are serving no cause at all.

There is an urgent need to develop a mechanism to ensure a good standard of education in both public and private schools.

The PEC is a brainchild of Shahbaz Sharif. But he and his team will not admit that there are many flaws in the system.

As a parent, I request the Chief Justice of Pakistan to look into the matter so that the future of millions of students can be saved.

ARSHAD NADEEM Wah Cantt