By Felix Khanoba
The Federal Government on Wednesday expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the ongoing National Examinations Council (NECO) school-based Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), describing the Computer-Based Test (CBT) format as a major step towards totally eliminating examination malpractice and improving the quality of education.
The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Said Ahmad, gave the assessment after monitoring the examination at Redeemers Teap International School, Garki 2 and Anglican Girls Grammar School, Gudu, Abuja.
According to the minister, the students expressed overwhelming preference for the CBT format, citing its ease of use and improved examination experience.
“My assessment of the examination is that I’m very happy because from what I have seen in the two centres that I visited, the students are writing the CBT examination and they are happy. The setting for the examination is excellent,” she said.
Prof. Ahmad disclosed that discussions with candidates showed that most preferred CBT to the traditional paper-based examination, while only one candidate in one of the centres visited indicated she was comfortable with either format.
She explained that one of the major strengths of the CBT system is its ability to curb examination malpractice through randomisation of questions.
“I interacted with them to know whether they had seen the questions before the examination because that is one of the key challenges we are trying to address through CBT. They said no. Each student is writing a different set of questions, so even those sitting beside one another cannot communicate because their questions are different,” she said.
The minister maintained that the government remained committed to expanding CBT examinations but stressed that a full nationwide transition would only commence after the required infrastructure is fully in place.
“We will not begin the complete transition until everything is ready because we do not want to put any student at a disadvantage. We are working closely with the National Assembly, state governors, private partners and other stakeholders to provide the necessary infrastructure and facilities for the transition,” she said.
She also expressed satisfaction with the technical performance of the exercise, noting that officials and candidates reported no cases of network failure or system malfunction since the commencement of the examination.
“In the schools I visited, I asked whether there were technical glitches in accessing the questions or starting the examination. They assured me that there had been no technical hitch. The examinations started on time without network problems or interruptions,” she added.
Prof. Ahmad described the development as evidence that the CBT pilot programme, introduced last year, had recorded significant progress and was gradually maturing into a nationwide model.
On examination malpractice, the minister said the CBT platform had made cheating extremely difficult because candidates only see their questions while taking the examination and each receives a unique set of questions generated by the system.
“As far as we want quality education, we must eliminate examination malpractice, and I think the only way forward is to move towards CBT examinations,” she stated.
Also speaking after the monitoring exercise, NECO Registrar, Prof. Ibrahim Dantani Wushishi, disclosed that the council expects to release the 2026 SSCE results by the first week of September, or earlier, owing to the faster processing made possible by the CBT system.
“By the first week of September, or even before then, we should be ready so that candidates can use their results for admission,” he said.
The registrar revealed that a total of 1,378,048 candidates registered for the examination nationwide, noting that female candidates slightly outnumbered their male counterparts, a development he attributed to sustained government efforts at promoting girl-child education.
He also confirmed that no technical hitch had been recorded since the commencement of the CBT examination and disclosed that Abuja currently has about 10 CBT centres participating in the exercise.
Also speaking, Principal of Anglican Girls’ Grammar School, Mrs Nkiruka Nwafor, said the transition to CBT was preparing students for a technology-driven future.
According to her, the school adopted the system early to familiarise students with computer-based examinations before external assessments.
”The CBT experience is what we’ve all been waiting for. The future our girls are going into is dynamic and heavily ICT-driven.
”We are excited that our proprietor got on board. We have also introduced CBT for some of our internal examinations so that from JS1 and JS2, the students gradually get used to the system. So it’s about time, and it’s good that it’s happening,” she said.
