NECO: Why we can’t adopt CBT now

The National Examinations Council (NECO) says the complexity of its examination may not allow for immediate migration from paper to computer-based tests (CBT).

Ibrahim Wushishi, the NECO registrar, spoke at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday.

Stakeholders in the education sector had earlier demanded a review of the laws governing the council to accommodate emerging technologies.

Wushishi said migrating to CBT is a “critical issue” because the exam body assesses candidates on a range of complex subjects.

“For JAMB (Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board), they are not examining candidates in so many subject areas so they find it very easy to embrace CBT in their examinations and do multiple choice in their exams,” the registrar said.

Wushishi said NECO examines about 1.5 million candidates in 76 different subjects and more than 150 different papers.

“As far as NECO is concerned, if you look at the nature of our exams, particularly in SSCE internal for admissions into tertiary institutions, every year we examine students close to 1.5 million which is a large number,” the registrar said.

“For these 1.5 million candidates, we examine these candidates in 76 different subjects and more than 150 different papers.”

“So if we look at the complexity of these exams, particularly the essays where we have different papers, going CBT is something that experts need to sit and look at the nitty gritty of the exams.”