By Emmanuel Okwuke / Senior IT. Correspondent
In a bid to curb the increasing rate of mass failure in national examinations in Nigeria through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has entered into partnership with two indigenous software companies, Cinfores Limited and WaveTek Nigeria Limited.
The partnership was consummated, with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with WaveTek and Cinfores Limited on deployment of a special version of Nigeria’s foremost e-learning and examination preparatory software, Cinfores BrainFriend.
The special version which is customised for the forthcoming 2015 Joint Admission and Matriculation Board/ Universal Tertiary Matriculations Examinations (JAMB/UTME) is known as JAMB Brainfriend. Also present in the ceremony is Microsoft Nigeria Education Lead, Patrick Onwumere.
Speaking on the development, the Director General of NITDA, Mr. Peter Jack, said the agency keyed into the initiative as part of its effort to deepen and encourage local content development in education and other sectors of the economy as mandated by theAct setting up the agency.
“The mass failure in UTME and other national examinations in recent years, as a case in point, is a mixture of many things including the non-availability of quality local resources to change the tide of mass failure and exam malpractice that has plagued the nation,’’ he said.
The NITDA boss, also stated that NITDA as an IT agency, is committed to transforming every sector in the country through the introduction of ICT.
In his remarks, the Managing Director of Cinfores Limited, Mr. Asawo Ibifuro, said the software companies decided to introduce the examination software, JAMB BrainFriend which has been approved by the Federal Ministry of Education, NERDC and NITDA to arm Nigerian students to be better prepared for the forth coming JAMB examination.
Asawo, who frowned at the increasing rate of failure of students in JAMB examinations, said the software company, ‘‘is committed to helping the students adequately prepare and pass their various examinations by developing the customised version that would help them overcome any kind of questions that come their way.
The premium version of the software, he explained has the following features: over 57,000 questions, answers and explanations, over 20,000 theorems, definitions and formulae, covers about 50 subjects (including Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo Languages), prototype questions for WAEC, NECO and JAMB, career counselling guide, quick references and easy to use study notes for over 30 subjects, national curriculum, performance tracking, available for Windows/ Android devices and easy setup and activation.
According to him, the special JAMB Brainfriend was subsequently developed to provide a customised version for the forthcoming 2015 UTME.
Having in mind the high rate of failure that has plagued the exam in recent years and the introduction of Computer Based Testing, he said that Cinfores Limited decided to release a customised version to directly address the needs of the JAMB UTME candidates to enable them prepare adequately as well as retain the knowledge gained through the use of the of BrainFriend.
Source : Independent