Details of a new system to assess children at the end of primary school were given this morning by Education Minister Dolores Cristina and the Director-General of Education, Grace Grima.

The Junior Lyceum exams will no longer be held as from this year. They will be replaced by benchmark tests in Maltese, English and Maths.

The minister stressed that these will not be pass or failure exams, but pupils will be assessed and placed in set in secondary school according to their skills in each subject.

In Maltese and English, the children will be assessed for listening comprehension, speech, reading and writing.

They will also be assessed in written and mental arithmetic.

She said the subject sets had been tailored so that pupils could be able to exploit their skills in particular subjects they may be good at, while being helped in others as required.

There will be three sets per subject with the lowest being the basic.

The benchmark tests will be held in the first week of June.

Marking will be anonymous and tests will be seen twice.

The minister said the pupils will continue to study religion and social studies and be examined separately for them.

The new system will apply for all state primary schools and Church and private schools are being invited to join.

Meetings will be held for parents to explain the new system.

Specimen papers and evaluation sheets are already available on www.curriculum.gov.mt

The authorities will cater for pupils with difficulties, such as those having dyslexia.