Deborah Akinyosoye
The Registrar and Chief Executive, National Examination Council (NECO), Prof. Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, has said that the body is ready to conduct a Computer-Based Test (CBT) for the November/December Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) for private students.
Wushishi, who stressed the need for an awareness campaign to get stakeholders on board the new approach to SSCE examinations, added that NECO had been carrying out the campaign in town hall meetings with stakeholders across the states on the need for CBT.
The Registrar, while speaking during the Education Writers’ Association of Nigeria (EWAN) dialogue series with the theme: “CBT for SSCE: Is Nigeria Ready?” held virtually, disclosed that there were more than 2,000 CBT centres across the country, aside from National Open University CBT centres in all the states and some local councils.
He added that NECO is also mapping out schools to match with available CBT centres so that they could determine the nearest distance to CBT centres or vice versa.
Director of Senior Secondary Education, Hajia Binta Abdulkadir, in her remark, said the examination bodies, which include the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), have all it takes to conduct CBT exams.
She disclosed that a committee called Improvement of Public Examinations in Nigeria, headed by Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede is working on such issues and will deliver the report soon.
Abdulkadir, who gave the assurance that examination bodies and the ministry would look inward to commence the new approach, however, stressed the need to punish the culprits sabotaging examinations in the country, noting that the government should resuscitate punitive laws on exam malpractices if they are dead.
However, participants at the meeting shared varying views.
A participant, Dr Adunola Osoba, suggested that CBT centres should be done in phases, saying: “It is achievable. Massive sensitisation should be done for stakeholders, especially the candidates.”
Another participant, AbdulRasheed Rabana, said Nigeria could not go CBT without her mode of examination conduct, saying: “Imagine if we conduct practical, oral examination, and essay examination? The only examination that is adaptable to CBT is our multiple-choice examination.”