The proposed computer-based test format for the next West African Senior School Certificate Examinations in the nation has been urged to be canceled by the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum.
The forum claims that if this kind of testing is permitted, it will cause a large number of pupils to fail, especially in rural parts of northern states where computer literacy is either nonexistent or very low.
In a statement issued in Kaduna on Friday, Yerima Shettima, the National President of AYCF, claimed that the CBT tests ought to have been optional, giving applicants the option between the conventional pen-and-paper format and the computer-based technique.
He contended that doing so would have given students the freedom to select the format that best suited their needs and abilities.
Shettima continued, stating that studies carried out by the Forum in a few northern states, including Zamfara, Jigawa, Taraba, Adamawa, Nasarawa, and Plateau, showed that the CBT exams had a consistent negative impact on students’ false failure rates in public schools, where computer literacy was not always taught.
He said, “Even the CBT tests for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board have put disadvantaged students in a difficult situation since they find it difficult to respond to questions in a format they are not accustomed with.
“A large number of students who did not pass the CBT-based JAMB tests in the previous year contended that systemic shortcomings, such as inadequate infrastructure or network outages during the test, were to blame for their results. The problem is further made worse by a lack of appropriate and sufficient computer skills as well as old desktop PCs that CBT centers fail to maintain.
He stated that in order to stop a high percentage of pupils failing out of school when they should have been given fair and equal chances to succeed, action had to be taken.
