Some school owners have lauded the introduction of computer-based examinations for the conduct of West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination for Private Candidates Examination Diets by the West African Examinations Council.
On Monday, WAEC, in a statement, announced its plans to migrate from paper and pencil tests to computer-based examinations, saying that the innovation would commence with WASSCE for private candidates, the 2024 first series.
It added that it was the vision of the Council that in the near future, all its examinations would be delivered via the computer.
Proprietor, Topdeal College, Ikorodu, Dr Oladeji Akinola, said, “It is a good development because we can’t remain static, the world is evolving. As a nation, our education should not be backward. In my school, I am already planning to introduce CBT in January.”
He, however, lamented that schools would need government’s assistance to get their schools equipped for the smooth running of CBE.
“The government needs to assist us in getting soft loans to equip our schools. We even discussed it at our last NAPPS meeting on how to get funds to equip our schools appropriately to meet up with the demands of CBE.”
Also, Lagos State Chairman, National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Mr Olawale Amusan, added that the WAEC CBE was achievable since the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board was able to use CBT successfully.
“It is achievable, JAMB did it, considering the fact that foreign examinations are now conducted on CBT. Most of our private schools will now have CBT centres where the examination can be conducted. It also means that more centres can be opened by private schools.’’
He also complained that “The challenge is electricity, it is costly to maintain a CBT centre especially now that a litre of diesel is N1,300, so this will bring about high cost of maintenance because there schools without enough computers such will find it difficult for their schools to participate. As for internet network connection, it is improving generally.”
