Minister Satisfied With CBT Adoption As 1.3m Candidates Take NECO Exam

Federal government has expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the ongoing National Examinations Council (NECO) school-based Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), as 1,378,048 candidates sit for the examination.

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, yesterday.

She said the Computer-based Test (CBT) format was a major step towards eliminating examination malpractice and improving the quality of education.

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 am 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.

Ahmad disclosed that discussions with candidates showed that most preferred CBT to the traditional paper-based examination, while only one candidate at one of the centres visited indicated that 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 the 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 had been fully put 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.

On examination malpractice, the minister said the CBT platform had made cheating extremely difficult because candidates only see their questions while taking the examination, with each candidate receiving 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, due 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.