THE West African Examinations Council,
WAEC, has disclosed, it’s high time secondary
school students started preparing to write
the West African Senior School Certificate
Examinations, WASSCE, through Computer
Based Test, CBT.
This came as the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Republic of Liberia, Mr Augustine Ngafuan
urged WAEC to introduce Group-Work in
classroom into their marking scheme.
Speaking with journalists during WAEC’s
20th Annual Endowment Fund Lecture held
at Multipurpose Hall, WAEC International
Office in Ikeja, Lagos, WAEC Registrar, Dr. Iyi
Uwadiae said: “WAEC is ready to adopt
technology based method in conducting its
examinations across West African
countries.”
The Registrar who noted that the WAEC new
international office in Lagos is equipped
with internet facilities that can
accommodate over 350 candidates per
sitting, said JAMB used the centre in the just
concluded UTME. He said that the centre was
specially designed for candidates writing
aptitude tests.
To achieve the goal of conducting credible
examinations in West Africa through the use
of CTB, Uwadiae said the challenge with the
adoption of the CBT is not the theoretical
questions it sets. He, however seeks for the
cooperation of secondary schools in
submitting genuine continuous practical
assessment results of their candidates to the
examination body.
Asked when he hopes to commence the CBT,
he averred that WAEC doesn’t rush its
decisions, stressing that the highest
examination body in West Africa has been
conducting CBT exams in one way or the
other for years.
He explained: “But we must know that we
conduct achievement test not selection test,
we have to take our time to implement
error-free examinations. We must also
understand that because WAEC has five
member countries, we have to consider
each country’s capacity to move in the same
direction before adopting a particular
mode.”
Meanwhile, the guest lecturer, Mr Augustine
Ngafuan, Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Republic of Liberia, in his speech urged
WAEC to adopt a system whereby students
performance during SSCE will not only be
evaluated by what they can do as individuals
but also by their performance during group
work in school.
“What WAEC and school authorities could do
to contribute to the holistic preparation of
the youth before SSCE is to promote the
value of team work in testing evaluation
systems.” He said.
According to him, WAEC as it is structured
now, assess the performance of students as
individuals urging that consideration should
be given to performance of students in
groups. Evaluating students performance as
individuals, he noted, reveals that at the end
of the day, it is what you do as individual
that counts and not what you do as a group.
Consequently, he said that every student
knows by and large that his destiny is in his
own hands. “The positive side of this is that
it makes the student cultivate the attitude of
independence or individualism which is
useful for survival,” he added.
The Minister, however informed that the
unintended consequence of this experience
on individual performance and assessment
is that the student will also develops an
attitude of selfishness and in some cases
arrogance.
Giving examples to drive home his point,
Ngafuan said in the job world, our
performance or destiny is affected by the
actions or inactions of others. “Many tasks
have to be executed in teams in which there
are smart people and those who are not
smart. Managers, especially officials of
government appointed into a new positions,
usually have problems managing already
recruited staff. If you are to succeed your
team is as strong as its weakest link.”
According to him, some people who have
academic excellence, do perform woefully
on the job, because when they were in
school they did every thing all alone to earn
academic excellence.
“In order to encourage team works and
skills in youth, WAEC working with school
administrators can derive a system whereby
a student’s final score in WAEC exam is the
combination of his scores plus an extra
point that takes into consideration group or
team performance. Thus, the student’s final
score becomes an aggregate of the
individual score in an exam, plus the score
of the team which the student was a
member.” Ngafuan proffered.
He maintained that such evaluation scheme
placing premium on team work will make
students look out for each other. Knowing
full well that their fates are tied to an organ
of mutuality