PESHAWAR: The elementary and secondary education department has finalised arrangements for holding centralised examinations of grade-V for the first time in the province with computerised checking of papers, according to officials.

They said that the new pattern would be applied to the upcoming annual examinations, to be commenced on March 7. The centralised examination and computerised checking of papers would ensure transparency in the system and would help in accurate assessment of the students, they added.

Officials said that computerised checl(ing of papers would replace the manual system to improve students` assessment, currently conducted at the primary schools by the headmasters of the nearesthigh or higher secondary schools.

The new pattern of the examinations would cost around Rs230 million, they said.

Sources in the education department told Dawn that the existing examination system for students of grade-V and manual checking of papers had many flaws that were affecting the students of the government schools.

They said that the headmasters of the nearest high or higher secondary schools used to set papers of their choice while in the new pattern students of the entire province would solve the same papers.

The objective type question papers would be set in six subjects including English, mathematics, Islamiat, social studies, Urdu and general science, the sources said.

They said that Directorate of Curricula and Teachers Education would hire a private firm for conducting examinations under the new pattern.

The administration of DCTE had already Boated tenders in the newspapers for hiring a private firm for conducting examinations and papers` checl(ing, they said.

Sources said that district education ofñcers across the provincehad registered 0.717 million students with the DCTE to appear in the examinations. The papers would be set by the private firm on the instructions of DCTE, they said, adding students would have to solve a single paper every day.

One of the headmasters told Dawn that the existing system for evaluation of the students of gradeV was not fair as the headmasters of the high or higher secondary schools had often close relations with the head teacher of the primary school concerned.

`In such a situation the examiners (headmasters) promote most of the students to the 6th grade, though many among them deserve to be failed, to save the head teachers from embarrassment,` he said.

He added that such students couldn`t understand the coursework in grade-VI after promotion as they couldn`t learn their previous course.

`In this way the future of the studentsis put at stake.Ihave also passed the students of grade-V for only getting 10 marks,` said the headmaster, whishing not to be named.

He said that centralised examinations and computerised check-ing of papers would also improve the quality of education in the primary schools because education department would seek explanations from the teachers if the failure ratio was high. Secondly, he adde d, there would be no chance to favour the teachers in their students`evaluation.

The headmaster said that uniformity would also be introduced in terms of paper setting, standardisation and administration in the primary schools. With the introduction of the new examination system, he said, teachers, assistant district education officers, district education officers and provincial education secretariat would start taking interest in the primary schools because the results would be transparent and shared with all stakeholders.

When asked about the students and teachers preparation for the new pattern of papers, one of the district education officers told Dawn that model papers were distributed among the primary schools for the guidance of students and teachers. `We have trained students about solving papers of objective type questions,` he added.