Kwara NUT backs NECO’s plan for CBT exams

...urges adequate preparation, facilities

Kwara State Branch of the Nigerian Union Teachers (NUT) has thrown its weight behind plans by the National Examination Council (NECO) to introduce Computer Based Test (CBT) in the subsequent examinations.

The State Chairman, Comrade Musa Abubakar, who spoke with Pilot Education at the weekend in Ilorin, described the plans as a "very welcome development."

However, Abubakar asked the examinations body to put in place adequate preparations and relevant facilities to ensure proper take-off of the programme.

"It is a welcome development. Students should be able to move with time," the NUT Boss remarked.

Speaking on the facilities, Abubakar added: "If NECO is determined it should be able to provide necessary facilities, including the centres before the next examinations. It will be unwise for NECO not to have proper facilities in place before embarking on such programme."

The Chairman, NECO Governing Board, Dr Paddy Njoku, had reportedly given the hint in Abuja during the board's monitoring visit to the Model Secondary School, Maitama, centre of NECO Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination.

"We will introduce CBT in papers that need computer in the next exams, but some other subjects are either practical or essay; so you cannot put everything under CBT.

"Mathematics is compulsory; so the hall will be full; that is why we decided to inspect them today.

"We do about four levels of monitoring; we have invigilators' supervisors, security men and external monitors drawn from institutions of higher learning, who independently, monitor without getting involved in the administration of the examination.

"The board comes out to monitor and get direct assessment of the situation so that nobody tells stories and all these we do to ensure very strict control of our examination,'' Njoku was quoted to have said.

He said the performance of students in the examination had improved over the last two years based on students who made five credits, including Mathematics and English. According to him, the performance will continue to improve "since the rot created over the years will take some time to fix".

He blamed dwindling performance of students on the quality of teachers, adding that efforts were being made to address the problem.

#education