The Federal Government has announced that it will proceed
with the transition to Computer-Based Testing, CBT, for the West African
Examinations Council, WAEC, and the National Examinations Council, NECO, by
2026.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, made this known
during a guest appearance on The Morning Brief, a programme on Channels
Television, on Tuesday.
This announcement follows growing concerns about the
integrity of public examinations, particularly after the release of statistics
from the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, which revealed
that over 1.5 million of the 1.95 million candidates scored below 200 out of
400.
Responding to the poor UTME results and what they signify
regarding learning outcomes at the senior secondary school level, the minister
described the situation as a major concern, emphasising that it reflects
examinations being conducted properly.
“JAMB conducts its exam using a computer-based testing
system. They’ve implemented strong security measures, and as a result, fraud or
cheating has been nearly eliminated. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same for
WAEC and NECO,” he said.
Alausa disclosed that the government had undertaken a
comprehensive review of the nation’s examination systems shortly after he
assumed office.
“We carried out a diagnostic review of how exams are
conducted nationwide. I set up a committee to investigate this, and I expect to
receive their report in the coming days,” he added.
He reiterated that WAEC and NECO would commence the
migration of their examinations to CBT from November 2025, beginning with
objective papers, with full implementation, including essay components, by
May-June 2026.
“We have to use technology to fight this fraud. There are so
many ‘miracle centres’ and that is simply unacceptable. People cheat during
WAEC and NECO exams and then face JAMB, where cheating is nearly impossible.
That’s the disparity we’re seeing now. It’s sad,” Alausa said.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com