WAEC to gradually eliminate use of papers in examinations — Official

The West African Examination Council (WAEC) in Nigeria says it will gradually eliminate the use of papers in conducting its examinations.

Amos Dangut, head of the national office, disclosed this on Thursday after monitoring the conduct of the ongoing West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Abeokuta.

Mr Dangut, who was in the company of the permanent secretary, Ogun Ministry of Education, Mariam Oloko, explained that WAEC was planning to deploy electronic devices to various recognised examination centres across the country for the future conduct of WASSCE.

He said that deploying the devices would eliminate the current use of paper registration of candidates and detect all forms of malpractice in the centres.

” We are saying that in the future, we are going to give this provision where schools that have facilities to do computer-based testing will take the examination on the computer, whereas those that are not ready will do the pen and paper.

” We will work in consultation with the Ministry of Education to have a timeline for this. When the time comes, we shall roll it out,” he said.

Mr Dangut explained that the assessment was satisfactory, noting that the schools and the students had prepared well for the examination.

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However, he added that schools needed bigger laboratories with sufficient equipment to accommodate students.

According to him, over 1.8 million candidates are writing examinations nationwide.

On her part, Ms Oloko noted that the Governor Dapo Abiodun-led administration had already commenced the process of online registration of pupils in public and private schools.

The permanent secretary assured continuous upgrading of information communication technology (ICT) and other facilities in public schools to prepare teachers and students.