British Council to help assess education standards: contract signed with ministry

British Council Pakistan will help the ministry of education to assess education standards in the country. Dr Tom Craig-Cameron, Director British Council Pakistan, and Muhammad Zahid Khan, Joint Educational Advisor, Ministry of Education (Projects Wing) signed a contract for this purpose in Islamabad on Thursday. The British Council will provide technical assistance to the project for four years to carry out sample-based national assessments of class IV and VIII students in four subjects - language, mathematics, science and social studies.
The National Education Assessment System (NEAS) project is part of the government's commitment to improving the quality of education and increasing students enrolment, through monitoring the learning environments of elementary students.
The project is funded by the World Bank through International Development Agency (IDA) credit and the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) grant to the government of Pakistan.
The objective of NEAS project is capacity-building of the ministry of education and the provincial/area education assessment centres through training, technical assistance, development of professional teams and improving working environment to carry out the initial design and testing of the instruments and procedures of the assessment system.
NEAS is a central co-ordinating body to be located in the curriculum wing, and a provincial educational assessment centre (Peace) in each province/area.
The central body would be responsible for planning and co-ordinating all aspects of national assessment, monitoring and controlling quality, preparing a national report and dissemination of information to all stakeholders.