Re: Schools of Tamba III

I write bitterly to express my disappointment with the Friday Column of Adamu Adamu in Daily Trust. Bitterly because I just realized lately that Adamu and myself have being writing and rejoining on the issue of Computer Based Test under the caption Schools of Tamba without me knowing what Tamba is all about. Could it […]

I write bitterly to express my disappointment with the Friday Column of Adamu Adamu in Daily Trust. Bitterly because I just realized lately that Adamu and myself have being writing and rejoining on the issue of Computer Based Test under the caption Schools of Tamba without me knowing what Tamba is all about. Could it be a word describing concepts in opposite meaning or derogating policies in a comic way?
This thought became imperative because I could not really understand what my senior colleague in media business was actually trying to explain in the latest column of Friday, 28th August, 2015 “School of Tamba III”.
In trying to win the debate on why the Board should wait for ages before attempting to conduct CBT, Adamu alleged that CBT … “would also not stop the advance released of question papers to schools or to paying students by staffers of JAMB for reasons of financial inducement, nepotism, statist-patriotism  or indeed, for any reason.” He went further to say that, “Nor would it have stopped the leakage of question papers by staffers of printing press or other pre-exam day custodians of the papers; or prevented other unauthorized persons having fore-knowledge of examination questions by way of breaching the security-packaging of question paper packets; or the act of receiving and giving assistance to candidates in the examination hall by persons within and outside it.
The above assertions clearly demonstrate the fact that Adamu does not know the subject he has chosen to write about and he equally did not do the basic findings on the concepts of Computer Based Test. If he had asked questions, he would have known that Computer Based Test is everything except those things he had labored so hard to associate CBT with. There is a big difference between Computer Based Test and Paper Pencil Test, while CBT is paperless; PPT has all the characteristics mentioned by Adamu. It will interest Nigerians to know that it was because of so many irregularities and the ones mentioned by Adamu that the Board introduced the CBT. And to the credit of CBT, all these irregularities are history.
For the purpose of educating Adamu and so many of his co-travelers who may not have sufficient understanding of what the Board’s CBT is all about, let me state the process and procedures of conducting the CBT.
First the conduct of CBT eliminates all processes involving papers and pen etc. The system is entirely deplored on a computer. No question paper, no custodian, no printing papers, no packaging and above all, no copying from each other as questions are personalized in such a way that two candidates writing English sitting side-by-side will be answering different questions but calibrated to the same standard.
The CBT is administered in such a way that candidates are allocated to centres based on the capacity of the centres and the number of days for the examination. Each state of the Federation especially the Adamawa State which Adamu has consistently referred to has more than three (3) centres. These centres have adequately taken care of the number of candidates in such states. And the system does not necessarily require each candidate having a personalized computer.
On the examination day, questions are deplored from the Headquarters of the Board in Bwari to all our centres all over the world within three (3) minutes all encrypted and at the centres the questions are sent to the terminals and only readable when candidates key in their personalized registration numbers.
The Board’s CBT is not deplored through internet but via the Local Area Network (LAN) so not susceptible to hacking. This is a system that has proved all inclusive solution as it addresses the challenges of public examination and offers a bright prospect for the development of education in Nigeria. It will be disastrous if the arrogance of our “intellectuals” does not allow them to see their ignorance. What you don’t know you ask question and if you are still in doubt you leave out. Let us stop leaving in the past. The thought that Nigeria is still in the primitive stage of development is retrogressive.
In any case university education is intended to bring out the best so that the  society will be better. This product should be able to compete with anybody globally. How ready were we for the kind of election INEC introduced to us? But today we are all happy that INEC gave us a system we can all boast of.
It’s very unfortunate that most of us specialize in stressing problem and challenges. They dwell much on why it’s not possible and seeing no possibility in anything good. They want us to remain where we are until eternity.   
Fabian Benjamin, Head Information (JAMB) [email protected]