WAEC not adopting Computer Based Tests anytime soon due to limitations.

The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has ruled out adopting the Computer-Based Test (CBT) for its examinations.

The examination body's Head, National Office, Charles Eguridu, made this known on Thursday in Abuja.

He said it would amount to “intellectual dishonesty’’ for him to say the council would introduce CBT in the next five years or the near future.

According to him, the purpose of education is to prepare people for life, not just to pass examinations; there is therefore need to examine different domains of student knowledge, which CBT cannot accommodate.

“There is what we call the cognitive domain; that is what you have learnt that you can put in your head." he said.

“There is also what we call affective domain that has to do with your emotions.

“There is also what we call the psycho-motor domain that is skills which you can express using your hands and your body." he further added.

The council's examination takes into cognizance these three domains, he revealed.

“I am yet to see any education expert who will tell you that you can measure the psycho-motor domain using CBT.

“Any test that will use computer to evaluate who will be a good carpenter cannot be a valid test.’’ he said.

According to Mr. Eguridu, in psycho-motor domain, candidates did practical tests in agricultural science in the farm and the examiner supervised their actual agricultural practice.

Also, those doing woodwork were made to carry out physical designs of whatever woodwork assignment they were going to do and they were evaluated on the outcome of their work.

Eguridu further said that even Netherlands, the model for adopting CBT was yet to apply it in all its examinations.

“In Netherlands … they have not been able to migrate 40 per cent." he said. “How many schools in Nigeria have hardware? How many schools in Nigeria have the facilities to have those computers?

“There is the additional problem of electricity and internet connectivity.

“What JAMB is doing is commendable because theirs is an admission test; it is a certification examination.’’

He also revealed that the council had started encrypting the data of candidates in their results to avoid falsification, while urging states owing the council to settle their debts in order to keep the examination body operational. (NAN)