The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, has expressed concern over the plight of candidates for Computer-Based Test (CBT) of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) who are not computer literate.
Adamu made his worries known on Tuesday while monitoring the 2016 UTME at the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB)’s Model CBT Centre at Kogo, Bwari in the FCT.
Adamu said, however, that he was impressed with the conduct of the examination at the centre.
“The children seemed to be very happy and comfortable with what they are doing; but my question is what do you do with many who are not computer literate?
“I have sympathy for candidates who are not computer literate and there are many of them.
“I think we should combine CBT and paper examination for sometime but definitely, the future is for computer,” he said.
On his part, JAMB’s Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, said that all factors were considered before the board migrated fully from Paper-Based Test to CBT.
He said that the Federal Government had mandated the National Commission for Communications (NCC) to set up least four CBT centres every year.
“The first four are on and very soon more will be on.
“We have made improvement from that of last year; for instance, we now have calculator on the screen.
“Over 200,000 results have been released since the examination started on Feb. 27,” he said.
Ojerinde cited security challenges, high cost of producing writing materials for PPT, high cost of transporting materials and curbing examining examination malpractices as some of the reasons behind the adoption of CBT.
A candidate, who pleaded anonymity, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the CBT was easy, as it only entailed clicking on the right answers.
He said that the CBT was commendable because it reduced the stress of paper writing, adding that it would also encourage future candidates to upgrade their computer skills.
The candidate said that any person with basic computer knowledge could write the exam without much difficulty.
NAN reports that Adamu also visited the Charms City CBT Centre at Area 11, Garki, where he expressed satisfaction with the facilities therein. (NAN)