BEIJING - A comprehensive system will be used to evaluate the quality of primary and secondary schools in China, an official with the Ministry of Education (MOE) said Tuesday.

Zheng Fuzhi, director of the ministry's Department of Basic Education II, said the MOE has issued a circular aimed at promoting the comprehensive evaluation system, which includes five categories and 20 criteria.

The categories include ethics, study, physical and mental health performances, as well as the development of interests and specialties and workloads.

Zheng said the MOE hopes the new system will change the stereotypical assessment, which evaluates students by their scores and schools by their rates of admission into higher schools.

According to the ministry, the system draws on the Program For International Student Assessment (PISA), an international assessment that measures the reading, mathematics and science literacy competency of 15 year olds.

The new assessment also draws on the trial reform of education evaluation carried out by the Shanghai municipal government over the past two years.

"The new criteria changed the subjective evaluation for primary and secondary schools and can help every school develop its own direction of sustainable development," said Yin Houqing, an inspector with the Shanghai municipal education commission.

Through sample tests and questionnaires, some schools considered prestigious by the public were found to have failed in making their students happy, according to Yin.

Principal of Beijing Primary School Li Mingxin said a good assessment will help students grow with confidence and dignity.

In order to ensure objectiveness within the new system, the assessment will be based on scientific analyses of large quantities of data, said Xin Tao, an official with the MOE.

Xin added that the new assessment places more importance on evaluating the efforts of schools and the progress made by their students, while previous assessments had focused mainly on results.

According to the MOE, results recorded by the new system will be a major element in the assessment of the performances of primary and secondary schools.

Zheng said the criteria in the new system will be further refined to cater to primary schools, junior secondary schools and senior secondary schools, respectively.

According to Zheng, the promotion of the new criteria needs to be complemented by curricular reforms and the reform of the national college entrance examination, and a professional evaluation team should also be formed.

"We must meet challenges head on to ensure the healthy growth of our teenagers and children," Zheng said.