The Federal Government has disclosed that privately-owned Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres and others belonging to public institutions would be fully deployed in the conduct of school-based Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) next year.

Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, stated this after monitoring a pilot CBT/SSCE conducted by National Examinations Council (NECO) at Sascon International School, Maitama, Abuja.

Alausa, who hailed NECO for the seamless conduct of the pilot phase of the CBT exam, said future school-based SSCEs would be moved to designated centres, rather than being held in schools.

The minister also announced plans to expand the value chain of these CBT centres.

He said the examination centres should not just be servicing JAMB but should be extended to WAEC and NECO.

He said: “The owners of these businesses have invested billions of Naira to set up these CBT centres. So, we also have to help develop a new value chain in our economy. They will create jobs, and more importantly, we have entrepreneurs in Nigeria that are developing these solutions. These are home-grown solutions.”

Alausa further commended NECO for its preparedness to fully transition to CBT, noting that the pilot was a demonstration of capacity and commitment to reform.

He also disclosed a phased roll-out of CBT format across all school exams starting with objective questions this year.

“I’m a very happy person today that NECO has moved to CBT from paper based. By November, both NECO and WAEC objective exams will be full CBT,” Alausa stated.

Fielding questions from reporters after monitoring the ongoing NECO exams alongside members of Senate Committee on Education at Government Secondary School, Maitama, the Registrar of NECO, Prof. Ibrahim Wushishi, expressed the organisation’s readiness for CBT.

Although he noted that the body might have challenges of infrastructure, Wushishi said NECO would not be bogged down by these problems.

“We are all aware that there are certain difficult terrains nationwide where we will not be able to meet up, except there are exceptional infrastructures to give us the opportunity to do that.

“But by and large, we are ready to do that as a professional body.

Wushishi revealed that a total of 1.36million candidates registered for this year’s SSCE, which is the highest figure so far.

According to him, Kano State had the highest number of registered candidates with more than 137,000, while Kebbi had the least, just above 5,000.

He also noted that the centre with the lowest number of candidates was the Nigerian International School in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which registered eight students.

Speaking after monitoring the examination at the Model Secondary School, Maitama, Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary), Senator Ekong Samson, announced plans to put in place measures that will ensure seamless transition to CBT exams.

According to him, the Senate will continue to monitor the process and the need to put measures in place that will guarantee the quality of education in the country.

On his part, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Examination, Oboku Oforji, who led the committee to monitor exams at Federal Government Boys College, Apo, Abuja, said the move was part of its oversight functions, and commended NECO for the hitch-free examination.