Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Examination Council, NECO, Dr Paddy Njoku, has noted that the examination body intends to introduce Computer-Based Test, CBT, for the objective sections of its subsequent examinations.
Njoku disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday during the board’s monitoring visit to the Model Secondary School, Maitama, which is one of the centres for NECO’s Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination.
He expressed satisfaction with the progress of the examination as students and teachers conducted themselves well, adding that the visit was informed by the fact that today’s paper — Mathematics — was compulsory for all the students.
According to him, “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,” he stated.
While asserting that reports from all over the country indicated that the examination was going on fine, Njoku 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.
He noted that the performance will continue to improve “since the rot created over the years will take some time to fix,” even as he blamed dwindling performance of students on the quality of teachers. He however added that efforts were being made to address the problem.
His words, “If we do not get the correct materials to teach the students in terms of teacher quality, we do not expect the students to do wonders. “We are trying to encourage, in our own way; the authorities to make sure that teachers are properly motivated to produce good students.
“We have to look at the quality and commitment of teachers and to make sure they are properly trained. “It is something that should be done in conjunction with other stakeholders”.
Also speaking, NECO Registrar, Prof. Abdulrashid Garba, said that in 2016, all objective examinations of the body would be CBT. He said he had been visiting schools in various states, adding that the visit to Model Secondary School, Maitama, was the Board’s way of monitoring the examination.
“In the schools visited so far, we have not seen anything that can cause disturbance; it has been complete compliance with the rules of the examination.
“All centres in Nigeria have been adequately secured; in special areas like Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, extra security measure have also been taken”.
Garba pointed out that 975, 991 students were taking the examination nationwide, assuring that the results will be released 60 days from the date of the last paper which comes up on July 10.
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