A plan that will enable the country to evaluate the compulsory education system for the first time was launched on Wednesday, with experts saying it will assist in policymaking and promote quality education across the country.

The plan, drawn up by the State Council's Education Supervision and Guidance Committee, is designed to test the academic performance and physical and mental health of junior middle school and primary school students. It will also examine factors that affect their performance and health.

"We have been unable, for a long time, either to evaluate the standard of our compulsory education system or to analyze the problems that exist because of the lack of statistics," said He Xiuchao, director of the Ministry of Education's Supervision and Guidance Office. "The implementation of the plan will enable us to do so."

A random selection of students in the fourth and eighth grades on the mainland will take a test consisting of two parts. Six subjects will be tested — the Chinese language, mathematics, science, physical education, art and general knowledge.

The results will reflect the students' ability to apply knowledge and solve problems, their emotions and attitudes, workloads and the quality of teaching and resources at their schools. However, the findings will not be used in any admission process or to assess individual students or schools.

"It will only be used to help make better education policy and help schools improve the quality of the education they provide, so it will not add to the workload of students or the pressure on the schools," He said.

Work on the initiative began in 2007, when the ministry asked Beijing Normal University to set up the National Assessment Center of Education Quality. The center gathered more than 1,000 education experts and teachers to draw up the plan and conduct pilot tests across the country.

The experts drew on knowledge gained from international systems such as the Program of International Student Assessment, a study carried out by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The plan has been called the Chinese PISA, but it differs from PISA in form and content because it has been tailored to the specific situation in China.

Ministry statistics show that China has more than 260,000 schools and 140 million students at the compulsory education level.

Song Naiqing, the former vice-president of Southwest University, helped to produce the plan.

"It's difficult to design a plan under such circumstances, but we are trying to consider the differences in aspects such as culture, customs, geographic environment and learning conditions," Song said. "We are trying to reflect the real education standard in different regions."

The first round of tests will be held in June.