The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, has stated that the government is committed to ensuring a seamless transition to Computer-Based Test for writing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and National Examination Council (NECO) exams.
She assured that all factors are being put into consideration to ensure no student or geographical location is put at a disadvantage when the CBT fully comes on stream.
Naijaonpoint reports Ahmad made the submission on Tuesday during the monitoring of the ongoing WASSCE in some selected schools in Abuja ahead of the full switch to CBT by 2027 as announced by the government.
”We will not roll out CBT in a way that excludes any student. Every child will have the opportunity to write their examination, regardless of location or infrastructure.
“Nigerians should bear with us. We are taking all concerns seriously, and by the time CBT is fully rolled out, no child will be put at disadvantage,” she assured.
According to her, the government is pursuing CBT transition to address some of the challenges identified with paper examination. She added that all necessary technical and infrastructural challenges would be fully addressed before the transition is made.
The Minister noted that based on her interaction, students prefer CBT to the traditional paper-based exams.
”From my interaction with the students, they are happy with the CBT examination and actually show preference for it over the written method.
”At a CBT centre, everything was orderly and timely, but at a paper-based exam centre, not only was the exam delayed due to rain, but the script was not even on ground.
”These are the kinds of issues CBT is designed to eliminate. CBT will ensure students are given their full allotted exam time since the system begins counting only when the student accesses the questions.
“This helps to address problems like delays caused by weather, transportation issues, and administrative lapses,” she said.
She further enumerated that one of the solutions CBT would engender is the elimination of rampant examination malpractices associated with paper-based examinations.
She explained that with the individualised sets of questions for each candidate, impersonation, question leaks, and systemic answer sharing would be drastically reduced.
According to her, “We know how students and schools manipulate the system, but CBT will shut those doors.”
She stated that WAEC and NECO were working closely with JAMB and other education stakeholders to address major challenges, such as electricity and internet infrastructure, that would hinder CBT transition.
The Minister disclosed plans to leverage JAMB’s well-equipped CBT centres for future exams, while also engaging with state governments to map out rural and urban challenges to design workable solutions.
According to her, with CBT, school centres may be replaced with CBT centres so as to overcome infrastructural challenges.
“When we roll out the CBT examination, we are going to make use of existing JAMB centres. We are not going to make use of school centres, since as you rightly mentioned, there are schools in the rural locations that don’t have light.
”This school we are currently inspecting has no power in the exam hall. If CBT were being conducted here today, that would pose a serious challenge.
“So all these are are being considered and we are carefully planning to ensure that really when we embark on this CBT, no student is at a disadvantage,” she stressed.