I have followed the unfortunate story of students and parents protesting that the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board conducted one of the worst university entrance examinations this year.
I have also watched in amazement as JAMB has worked tirelessly to defend its reputation, labelling those who are protesting as being angry that they were unable to cheat at the last examination, which was why they took to the streets in protest.
Quite frankly, I do not want to get involved in the argument as to who is right or who is wrong. My major concern at this moment is the fact that the House of Representatives has ordered JAMB to revert to the paper-based test that it had been using in years past.
So the question is; should we simply run away from computer-based-tests that many parts of the world have already embraced, or should we take a critical look at the problems surrounding these and other examinations with a view to proffering solutions that will deal with the challenges of computer-based tests?
How in the world will the members of the House of Representatives want to cancel computer-based-tests?
In his response to this directive, the JAMB registrar said, “The board is ready to go back to paper-based tests once the Minister and Ministry of Education issue a directive to that effect as they have the final say.”
He concluded with these words, “….But, we will be going backwards.” I quite agree with the professor even though I think he and his team could have done a much better job.
In any case, do members of the House of Representative realise that some Nigerians are actually running Diploma, First Degree, Masters and even PhD courses online right in Nigeria and they are receiving lectures via the internet and also taking part in computer-based-tests and examinations virtually?
Why must we ridicule ourselves in the comity of nations? It saddens me to hear that we do not have the capacity of using technology to conduct examinations for less than five million people.
What we keep shying away from is making the right investments and yet, wanting the best outcome. Why would you run a computer-based-test in a school environment where there is no steady power supply? Okay. I know this is no more new. However, it would have been much smarter to even provide alternative power supply, i.e. solar energy, in all centres so that the examination would not be disrupted in anyway like the students claimed happened to them. — Finish Reading on the Punch Website
