6.2 Foundation:

In 2004, UNICEF launched a program in six districts of the Punjab, aimed at assessing the students' learning achievements. In 2005, the Directorate of Public Instructions (Elementary Education) Punjab provided guidelines along with Model Question Papers for Grade-V and Grade-VIII Examinations and the Executive District officers Education across the province were required to develop the question papers at their own level on the pattern of Model question papers and arrange the conduct of both the examinations in accordance with the guidelines given by the Directorate. However, uniform schedule for the conduct of Grade-V and Grade-VIII Examinations along with Activity Plan was provided by the Directorate of Public Instruction (EE), Punjab. The sample analysis of the examinations conducted in the districts depicted the following results.

1. Overall quality of papers varied substantially.

2.Question papers didn't represent the curriculum.

3. Some areas needed improvement, such as paper setting, marking schemes and consistency of the question difficulty with the children's knowledge.

Since each district was creating its own paper, examination results couldn't be compared among districts. The district and school comparisons of results would have become possible only if all students were responding to identical examination papers.

In Dec 2005, a need for the establishment of a autonomous body was felt for the assessment of students' learning achievement in the province. This idea was given the shape of reality with the approval of the Governor for the establishment of "Punjab Examination Commission" as an autonomous body on 16th January, 2006. Mr.Javaid Akhtar, a civil servant was appointed its first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with challenging task to establish new setup and to organize Grade-V Examination 2006. anThe newly born organization planned for the conduct of Grade-V Examination-2006. Dr.Ken Vine and Dr. Ted Redden, International Consultants with the collaboration of UNICEF organized training of Paper Setters on the basis of Solo Taxonomy and also trained the paper setters in making scheme. A team of Master-Trainers was developed for further providing training to the field staff.Uniform question papers in each subject were developed for assessing the Learning Achievements of the students across the province and to have the comparison of student abilities on the basis of standard and uniform yard-stick.The first ever newly established examination organization (PEC) provides the useful information i.e. children's results/ performance, evaluation of intellectual framework and database to help to determine:

1.School wise and gender wise performance of students.

2.Comparison of results area wise, gender wise and public vs. private institutions.

3.Areas needed concentration of the administrators.wp-con

4. Areas wherein teachers require training.

5.Short-comings/weak areas of contents/ text-books.

6.Which institutions & teachers require more support?

1. Which institutions & teachers are already successful in their approach?
2. The quality of education in schools of the Punjab.
3. PEC arranges training courses on the methodology of the new system of examinations for subject specialists, teachers, paper developers, examiners and paper markers. Master trainers have been trained by PEC to train head teachers in all the districts. The head teachers are then required to share their knowledge with their fellow teachers.

PEC is now in a transition stage and its absolute autonomy needs to be legislated by the Punjab Assembly. In this context, in Oct 2006, an act has been drafted by PEC, stating its basic functions and composition of the Governing Council. The draft will soon be presented before the Punjab Assembly for approval. When the Act becomes official, the Government will appoint the members of its Governing Council to make this organization fully operative.

Under the proposed PEC Act, PEC will be independent from bureaucratic controls and will have financial and administrative autonomy in its day-to-day business, which are necessary elements for the credibility of an organization assigned with the task to manage the conduct examinations in the province. In addition to the conduct of Grade V & VIII Exams, PEC organizes training courses for capacity building of teachers on the new pattern of assessment/evaluation.

PEC is providing the Government with judicious comments on the quality of curriculum and would have an increasingly important role to play in relation to the quality of the curriculum change and to make the teachers training programme effective and more realistic.

Mission Statement:

PEC has a vision to become a "lighthouse", for educational institutions in the Punjab and in Pakistan, wherefrom they gain light and inspiration. PEC is trying to achieve this goal by employing the world's best practices and PEC staff meets with the standard of excellency in every aspect of its mission.

Our mission is to advance quality and equity in education by providing fair and valid assessments, research and related services. Our services measure knowledge and skills, promote learning and educational performance, and support in educational and professional development of all people in Pakistan. We are motivated by a mission to shape PEC as a Role-Model for all the provinces in the country and to create a better Pakistan.