Migration from paper-pencil mode to computer-based WAEC, NECO exams misplaced priority —Stakeholders

SOME stakeholders in the education sector have expressed concerns about the plan of the Federal Government to ensure full transition from paper-pencil mode to full Computer-Based Testing for all examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO) and National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) among others.

They observed that the directive by the Minister of Education, Dr Olatunji Alausa for WAEC, NECO and other public examination bodies to migrate fully from paper-pencil mode to computer-based examination by 2026 is a misplaced priority and should be reviewed.

According to them, government must have to tackle the  challenges of inadequate infrastructure, unreliable electricity, poor Internet connectivity, poor preparation of students and teachers, and limited access to computers, especially in rural communities before implementation of such policy so as not put some Nigerians at disadvantage if the country is serious about fairness, equity and balance.

Recall that Alausa, had in April ordered WAEC, NECO, and NABTEBl to adopt full CBT for all their examinations by 2026. According to the directive, examination bodies should commence administering objective papers via CBT in November, while full adoption, covering both essay and objective components, would begin by May/June 2026.

The Minister, who was upbeat that come 2026 all examinations conducted by WAEC, NECO, and NABTEB  among others, would have migrated fully from paper-pencil mode to computer-based examination, warned that there would be no excuses on the implementation of the policy, which he noted would put an end to the hydra-headed monster of examination malpractice in the country.

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In order to achieve the lofty objective, Alausa had constituted a high-level committee on improvement of the quality of examination in Nigeria, which has the registrar and chief executive of the Joint Administrations and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor  Is-haq Oloyede as the chairman.

The 17-member committee after working for over five months submitted its interim report to the minister affirming the minister’s proposal of full transition to computer-based examination by 2026.

The committee members comprising experts in education and test administration offered far-reaching recommendations aimed at addressing the challenge of examination malpractice and transition to computer-based examination by 2026.

Nonetheless, the critical question about Nigeria’s readiness has continued to generate concerns by stakeholders, particularly students who are likely to be affected by the hasty implementation of the policy.

Some of the stakeholders who spoke with Nigerian Tribune warned that  attempt to compare selection examination conducted by JAMB – Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME)- that is purely multiple choice questions, with the final year external examination conducted by WAEC, NECO among others is wrong and would be counter-productive.

Executive Director, Education Rights Initiative (ERI) Dr Solomon Udah, said while candidates do not need a high level of digital literacy skills to answer objective questions, it is not so with the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE). The theory or essay component of SSCE would require profound digital skills to be able to answer the questions within the allotted time and reasonably too.

This, he noted, would put students from villages and rural communities at disadvantage because of lack of exposure to computers and other digital facilities. According to him, the argument that children have phones does not hold water.

“Unfortunately, in Nigeria, most analyses of excellence performance of candidates in public examinations are usually based on candidates living in cities and towns to the exclusion of the students from rural communities who do not have access to modern infrastructure, in this case, computers, electricity, android phones, libraries, and above all competent teachers who are equip to impart necessary skills on them, including digital literacy skills needed to compete with their counterpart in cities,” he stated.

Also, speaking the President of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Audu Amba, disagreed with the Federal Government on the claims that the migration to computer-based examinations by WAEC and NECO would eliminate examination malpractices.

The NUT President pointed out that the major challenge with the nation’s education system, which is encouraging malpractices, is the priority placed on paper qualifications.

According to him, because the society only recognises certificates and grades, the students will go the extra mile, sometimes, with the support of their parents to acquire them, even when they could not defend them.

“We have placed more emphasis on certificates. What is your grade? What are your scores? Not minding the intellectual intelligence of that student.

“The students will go out of their ways to make sure that they get the marks that will give them the certificate,” he said

Amba also underscored the need to address the digital literacy gap among students and teachers before implementing such a policy, adding that this may require additional training programmes and resources.

“We are talking about CBT examinations right? Where is the light, manpower and network? You see, we have a long way to go. How many of our teachers in our localities are even computer literate? We don’t sit down within the city and give a directive that cannot be implemented.

“In my village, for instance, the network ceases. You can’t get it until you get to a particular place, and so it is in many of our villages.

“There are also some of our students that have not seen a computer before not to talk of operating it,” he said

The NUT president reiterated that many things are needed to be addressed first and in time, before it could get to a level of CBT introduction.

According to him, there is a need for relevant stakeholders to work together to improve the education sector for the betterment of the students and the nation.

On his part, the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, suggested that the Federal Government should have mandated WAEC as well as NECO to establish at least one CBT centre in each of the 774 local government areas before thinking of transition to CBT.

He warned that the policy if implemented would lead to mass failures, saying the examination bodies could individually or jointly set up such centres but noted that the timeline was too tight to achieve this before the 2026 deadline.

Ogunbanjo also raised concerns about erratic power supply, stressing the need for backup systems at all CBT centres.

“Next year is too soon to get this done. I would suggest shifting it to 2027. Adequate preparation is crucial to ensure that no student is left out. WAEC, NECO cannot rely on existing CBT centres used by JAMB.

“Then there’s the issue of backup. We all know the electricity situation in the country. CBT centres must have reliable backup power to avoid downtime. We can’t have a situation where students are writing examinations with torches or lanterns; that would be embarrassing for a regional body like WAEC, and it must be avoided,” he said.