The Isoko (Delta State) National Youth Assembly (INYA) Worldwide has hailed the decision of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to migrate the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) from the “Paper Pencil Test” to Computer Based Test (CBT) mode.
In a statement released by INYA, the President, Comrade Eniwake Orogun, said the decision aligns perfectly with global best practices and the need to adopt technology in engendering speed and efficiency as well as driving transparency and credibility especially in the educational sector.
He said: “As of today, all levels of our educational sector are in dire need of one form of reform or another and the adoption of technology for efficient and enhanced service delivery is most welcomed.
“WAEC as a body has a major responsibility to deal with issues of credibility that have challenged the authenticity of some of the results from some part of the country they have released in recent times and the adoption of technology to restore confidence and trust of Nigerians in their process is most welcomed.”
According to Orogun, most Nigerians are wondering why anyone including the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum would kick against an initiative as laudable as this in any guise.
“We are baffled that instead of wholeheartedly embracing this innovative thinking like every other Nigerians, the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum is whiping up unsubstantiated sentiments that attempt to associate mass failure with CBT mode of conducting exams. Why should anyone be afraid of credibility? Or why should a few states attempt to slow down the wheel of national progress? CBT mode of conducting exams is not novel in Nigeria. Its deployment is in fact, long overdue at the WASSCE level as CBT has been effectively deployed to conduct JAMB UTME and ICAN exams.
“If computer skills are not taught in public schools in some states in the North as they have alleged, the proper thing to do is to call on the government of those states to create the enabling environment for its delivery, rather than reject this laudable initiative.
“We know that our students are very studious and any mode of conducting the examination will not affect their performance except for those who want to get results through the back door,” he added.
INYA therefore, called on relevant stakeholders to maintain the momentum and continue with the plan of integrating CBT mode into their examination process from February this year as they have proposed.
