…as Athena,Educare partner to prepare 1m 2024 JAMB candidates for UTME

By Joseph Erunke, ABUJA

Forrmer Aviation Minister and Chancellor of Athena  Centre for Policy and Leadership,Osita Chidoka,has called for the mainstreaming of Computer Based Centres,CBT,into the nation’s secondary schools curriculum.

His call came as Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership in collaboration with Educare Nigeria Limited,a leading education technology company a free comprehensive nationwide preparatory CBT initiative for the 2024 candidates of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB.

The initiative which is ahead of the coming Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination,UTME ,aims to bridge the preparation gap for JAMP candidates , reaching at least 1 million students nationwide March 28 to April 15,2024.

It also aim to enhance test-taking skills,foster familiarity with digital examination  formats and facilitate focused revision by identifying individual strengths and weaknesses.

Speaking, Monday,at the stakeholders and media briefing in Abuja,Chidoka, explained that failure to mainstream CBT into secondary schools curriculum will continue to give the nation the poor results that it has been having.

 “We want to see them practise. It’s already late for the exam. But we have to start. Perfection is the enemy of the good. What we learn from this year’s own will impact how we do next year’s own. Computer based testing is the way to go. It is the future of the country but we need to intensify.

“We need to dig deeper into how to mainstream Computer Based Testing into our schools. Failure to mainstream it will continue to give us the poor results that we are getting. And not just the poor results, we will continue to bring a generation of Nigerians who do not have the skills for the global community”,he said.

Chidoka,who noted that Nigeria was a leading country in the conduct of CBT examination in Africa,called for partnership between the Centre, state and local governments to ensure all round Information Computer Technology (ICT) training for secondary school students.

Also speaking,the Chief Executive Officer of Educare, Alex Onyia, explained that the successful collaboration in the initiative saw the deployment of the CBT test for Senior Secondary three students at the Thomas Chidoka Centre for Human Development in Obosi, Ogidi division of Anambra State.

While emphasizing that the initiative aims to significantly extend reach and impact nationwide,he recalled that some students operated computer for the first time during the  previous mock examination conducted by both centres.