Lack of political will affecting establishment of CBT centres – Mutfwang

Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State has identified lack of political will by government to establish Computer-Based Testing (CBT) centres as the reason why students do not have access to computers to train for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) thereby leading to mass failures.

Speaking yesterday virtually during a media briefing and panel discussion organised by the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership, as well as Educare, to commence partnership for free nationwide JAMB preparatory CBT training, Muftwang said in Plateau State there were only 21 centres in the city centre; which were not available in the rural areas.

He said henceforth, the government would be deliberate and take the lead in mobilising stakeholders to come up with a strategy for expanding the critical infrastructure to enable students to participate in the CBT exams.

He stressed the need to train students on how to write the CBT system of examination as the West African Examination Council (WAEC) was also planning to commence the CBT style of examination, noting that it would be a serious issue if students did not know how to use the computer.

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The Chancellor of the Athena Centre, Chief Osita Chidoka, said the aim of the collaboration with state governments was to ensure that over one million students across the country had access to CBT centres and got trained on how to use the computer for their CBT JAMB examination.

On his part, founder Educare, Mr Alex Onyia, said it was discovered that a lot of students who failed JAMB were very brilliant, stressing that the challenge they had was lack of knowledge on how to use the computer.

Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, who was virtually represented by the Commissioner for Education, Muhammed Sabi Bello, said his state’s tertiary institutions had computer centres, adding that the government would liaise with them to allow students access to the centres to learn how to use the computer and prepare for the CBT JAMB examination.