The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, has declared that the proposed computer-based test format in the forthcoming West African Senior School Certificate Examinations will result in mass failure for students, especially in rural areas of Northern Nigeria.

The forum, therefore, called for its cancellation.

Yerima Shettima, the National President of AYCF, in a statement released in Kaduna on Friday, said, “The CBT exams should have been optional, allowing candidates to choose between the traditional pen-and-paper format and the computer-based approach.”

He argued that it would have allowed students to opt for the format they were most comfortable with and capable of attempting successfully.

According to Shettima, research conducted by the Forum in selected northern states such as Zamfara, Jigawa, Taraba, Adamawa, Nasarawa, and Plateau, revealed that the CBT exams had consistently led to high failure rates among students attending public schools.

He stated that even the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board CBT exams had placed underprivileged students in a predicament as they struggled to answer questions in a format they were unfamiliar with.

He noted that many students who failed the CBT-based JAMB exams last year argued that it was owing to systemic failures, including insufficient facilities or network failure during the exams.

The National President of ACYF believed that a lack of proper and adequate computer skills, coupled with outdated desktop computers that were not properly maintained by CBT centers, further exacerbated the situation.