Board Exams to be Held for Class 5 and 6 Students

In a significant policy shift, the Punjab Education Department has announced that annual exams for students of classes 5 and 6 will now be conducted under the board system.

According to an official notification, the exams will be organized by the Punjab Examination Commission (PEC), which operates under the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Authority (PCTB). The move comes in response to the poor performance of students in this year’s Grade 9 and 10 board examinations. Officials believe that “early exposure to standardized board assessments will better prepare students mentally and academically for senior classes and improve overall results in higher grades.”

All school heads across Punjab have been instructed to begin preparations for the new examination system immediately. They have also been directed to submit Academic Improvement Plans for their respective schools.

The decision, however, has drawn criticism from the Punjab Teachers Union. In a statement, the union highlighted that similar attempts to introduce board exams for Grades 5 and 8 had failed twice in the past. Teachers urged the government to avoid “frequent experimental changes” and instead implement a stable, long-term strategy for education, assessment, and teaching.

This development marks a major change in early-grade assessment across Punjab and is expected to affect nearly all public and a large number of private schools in the province.