By Collins Yakubu-Hammer
Gov. Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau has called for partnership among government, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Faith Base Organisations (FBOs), Corporate Organisations and wealthy individuals to expand Computer Based Test (CBT) infrastructures.
Mutfwang made the call at the roundabout on Athena/Educare Free Nationwide Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) Preparatory CBT launch in Abuja.
The event was organised by the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership in collaboration with Educare to mainstream CBT into school’s curriculum.
According to Mutfwang, Plateau as a state has only 21 CBT platforms which are not enough to cover the local government areas of the state.
He added that most of the 21 CBT Centers were located in the state capitals, which were all private sector initiative.
“There is no enough public sector involvement. This is a wakeup call for me as a governor, and I will like to appreciate what Athena and Educare has done to open our eyes towards involvement in this initiative.
“What I can assure you is that by grace of God, we are going to key into this partnership and we are going to see how we will be able to improve the capacity of our people.
“We want to be intentional and deliberate from this moment going forward, where we will take the lead.
“There is need for effective partnership to involve NGOs, FBOs, wealthy individuals and corporate organisations to come up with strategy for expanding the critical infrastructure to enable our students participate in CBT examinations.
“The density of access to IT facilities in the state is low. Not many students who are ready to write JAMB have access to ICT facilities. We need to allow our children to have access and participate in JAMB,” Mutfwang said.
The Plateau governor said he was going to ensure that when issuing licence to schools, there must be readiness to be able to create the platform.
“It is a massive deficit we have, but I think the deficit presents us with a massive opportunity and that is what we will be driving going forward,” he said.
Also, the Governor of Anambra, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, represented by his Special Assistant on Technology and Incubation, Miss Chinwe Okolie, narrated the education revolution drive in the state.
Soludo stressed that he would continue to ensure that Anambra remains in the lead of national examinations such as JAMB and WAEC.
Meanwhile, the Chancellor of the centre, Mr Osita Chidoka, said, the organisations was targeting one million students in its programme.
According to Chidoka, the programme was aimed at promoting constructive platforms for digital space that would enable students taking CBT examination prepare adequately.
He explained that the Centre observed that 80 per cent of students taking the jamb CBT examination were not familiar with computers.
Chidoka also called for expansion and improvement of infrastructure, production of quality teachers and inculcating of digital skills into students to make them prepare for CBT.
Similarly, the Founder of Educare, Mr Alex Onyia, said the organisation was prompted to bring the initiative to bear owing to the number of students who failed Jamb examination as a result of lack of knowledge of the CBT.
Onyia said that investment in a platform that enhance skills such as this would give Nigerian students quality education. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
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