CBT to curb examination malpractice
The West African Examinations Council has intensified the debate over examination integrity in Nigeria, with an official advocating stricter computer-based testing as a major weapon against organised cheating and so-called “miracle centres”.
Timothy Manga, an official at WAEC’s Makurdi office, said the adoption of CBT to curb examination malpractice would help reduce opportunities for candidates to obtain unauthorised assistance during public examinations and strengthen confidence in certificates issued by examining bodies.
Manga spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria amid renewed concerns about examination malpractice and allegations that some schools or centres deliberately create environments where candidates are assisted to cheat.
He said such practices, where they exist, undermine genuine students who prepare for examinations through hard work and weaken confidence in Nigeria’s education system.
However, Manga made an important clarification: WAEC had not officially received information confirming that any particular school in Benue State was operating as a “miracle centre”.
He said the council would nevertheless remain vigilant and take action if credible information identifying such centres became available.
Why WAEC official favours stricter CBT
Manga argued that examination success should reflect knowledge, preparation and competence rather than a candidate’s ability to obtain illegal assistance.
The push for CBT to curb examination malpractice is based partly on the belief that digital examinations can reduce the opportunities traditionally exploited by organised cheating networks.
In conventional examinations, malpractice may involve collusion among candidates, compromised invigilators, unauthorised access to questions, answer sharing or organised assistance at particular examination centres.
A properly controlled computer-based system can make some of those practices more difficult by allowing examination bodies to randomise questions, control candidate identification and manage testing environments more directly.
Manga said any educational system that rewards cheating disadvantages honest candidates and damages the credibility of certificates.
His position goes beyond punishment. It raises a more fundamental question about the purpose of examinations.
If two candidates receive the same certificate while one genuinely demonstrated competence and another obtained assistance through organised cheating, the certificate gradually loses its value as a reliable measurement of academic ability.
WAEC says no confirmed ‘miracle centre’ in Benue
Despite public concerns, Manga was careful not to accuse specific institutions without evidence.
He said allegations surrounding the existence of “miracle centres” in Benue were troubling, but WAEC had not officially confirmed any school as operating one.
That qualification is significant.
The expression “miracle centre” is commonly used in Nigeria to describe an examination centre where candidates allegedly receive organised assistance or are promised unusually high chances of passing external examinations.
But labelling a school a miracle centre without investigation could unfairly damage the institution, teachers and students.
The campaign to use CBT to curb examination malpractice must therefore be accompanied by proper investigation and evidence rather than rumours.
Manga said WAEC would continue to monitor the situation and could make an example of any centre caught facilitating organised cheating.
Independent examination centres proposed
Rebecca Ezekiel, a teacher at NKST Secondary School in Makurdi, supported greater use of computer-based examinations and proposed an additional reform.
She suggested that candidates should be examined under conditions independent of the schools where they were taught.
Her argument is that removing direct control of examination venues from individual schools could reduce the ability of school owners, teachers or other interested parties to interfere with the examination process.
That idea reinforces the argument for using CBT to curb examination malpractice, particularly where standardised centres can be supervised directly by examination authorities.
Ezekiel also recommended biometric verification, Closed-Circuit Television cameras and other technologies to strengthen monitoring.
Biometric identification could help ensure that the registered candidate is the person actually sitting the examination, while CCTV can provide additional oversight where regulations and privacy safeguards are properly observed.
Technology alone, however, cannot eliminate malpractice.
Examination officials, supervisors and technical personnel still control important parts of the process. If those responsible for administering an examination become compromised, even sophisticated systems can be abused.
School proprietor urges caution
Not everyone interviewed supported assumptions surrounding “miracle centres”.
Jude Odeh, a school proprietor in Otukpo Local Government Area, warned against assuming that schools admitting students in their final year were automatically involved in examination malpractice.
He said parents sometimes transfer their children because of differences in examination registration fees, school fees and other financial considerations.
Some schools, he noted, impose examination charges that families cannot afford.
His argument provides an important balance to the debate.
The use of CBT to curb examination malpractice should target proven misconduct, not legitimate movement of students between schools.
Education regulators must distinguish between suspicious patterns deserving investigation and lawful decisions made by parents seeking affordable education.
2026 figures show decline in malpractice cases
The latest WAEC figures provide useful context for the discussion.
https://ogelenews.ng/waec-backs-strict-cbt-to-tackle-miracle-centres-exa…
When releasing the 2026 Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination results, WAEC said 167,486 candidates had their results withheld in connection with reported cases of examination malpractice.
That figure represented 8.59 per cent of candidates who sat the examination and was 1.11 percentage points lower than the 9.7 per cent recorded in 2025.
The decline is significant because WAEC has expanded digital anti-malpractice measures alongside the rollout of computer-based examinations.
WAEC Head of the Nigeria National Office, Amos Dangut, said the council had strengthened question-paper serialisation and other technology-driven safeguards.
Serialisation changes the sequence in which candidates receive questions, making simple answer sharing between neighbouring candidates more difficult.
WAEC has also introduced digital systems for examination processing and strengthened cyber-monitoring of activities associated with examination fraud.
These measures offer evidence supporting the argument for CBT to curb examination malpractice, although the decline cannot automatically be attributed to CBT alone.
Enforcement, sensitisation, question serialisation, monitoring and sanctions all contribute to examination integrity.
Malpractice rate falls from previous years
Available figures show that the proportion of results linked to reported examination malpractice has fluctuated significantly over recent years.
In 2019, 180,205 results, or 11.28 per cent, were withheld.
The proportion increased to 13.98 per cent in 2020 before falling to 10.90 per cent in 2021.
The figure rose sharply in 2022, when 365,564 candidates, representing 22.83 per cent, had results withheld over malpractice concerns.
It subsequently declined to 16.29 per cent in 2023, 11.92 per cent in 2024, about 9.7 per cent in 2025 and 8.59 per cent in 2026.
The downward trend strengthens the case for combining CBT to curb examination malpractice with better enforcement and technological safeguards.
Still, 167,486 withheld results remain a substantial number.
Nigeria therefore cannot conclude that the examination-malpractice problem has been defeated.
CBT is not a magic solution
The attraction of computer-based testing is understandable, but education policymakers must avoid portraying technology as an automatic cure.
CBT can reduce some traditional methods of cheating, but it can also introduce new vulnerabilities.
Poor internet connectivity, unstable electricity, inadequate computers, technical failures and weak digital literacy can disadvantage candidates if implementation is rushed.
Cybersecurity must also become central to examination planning.
As more examination processes become digital, attempts to compromise servers, steal credentials or manipulate computer systems may replace some of the older methods of physical cheating.
Using CBT to curb examination malpractice therefore requires investment in secure infrastructure, trained technical personnel, backup power systems and reliable procedures for handling system failures.
No candidate should fail or lose examination time because a computer malfunctioned.
Access and fairness must remain priorities
Nigeria’s educational infrastructure varies widely.
Students attending well-equipped schools in major cities may have used computers regularly for years, while some candidates in rural communities have limited access to functional computer laboratories.
That digital divide matters.
A candidate’s WASSCE result should measure knowledge of Mathematics, English, Biology or another subject, not simply familiarity with a computer.
Government, WAEC and schools must therefore ensure adequate preparation before making computer-based examinations universal.
Candidates should have access to practice platforms and understand basic functions such as navigating between questions, typing responses and submitting answers.
Using CBT to curb examination malpractice will command greater public confidence when every candidate has a fair opportunity to learn how the technology works.
Parents and schools have responsibilities
Technology can make cheating more difficult, but the culture surrounding examinations must also change.
Some forms of organised malpractice survive because parents, candidates, school operators and corrupt officials view certificates as more important than genuine learning.
Parents who pay for illegal assistance contribute directly to the problem they later blame on schools and examination bodies.
Schools also have a duty to prepare students academically instead of advertising extraordinarily high pass rates as their principal attraction.
Manga’s warning goes to the heart of the matter: schools should become known for quality teaching, not for their alleged ability to guarantee examination results.
The long-term success of CBT to curb examination malpractice will depend on whether Nigeria changes both the technology of examination and the attitudes surrounding academic achievement.
Ogele News perspective
WAEC’s embrace of digital examination represents an important reform in Nigeria’s education system.
The fall in the proportion of results withheld over reported malpractice cases in 2026 is encouraging, particularly when considered alongside question serialisation, cyber-monitoring and other preventive measures.
But the objective should not simply be to move examinations from paper to computers.
The real goal must be restoring trust.
Universities, employers and families must be confident that a WAEC certificate reflects what the candidate actually knows.
The argument for CBT to curb examination malpractice is persuasive where technology reduces human interference, randomises questions and strengthens candidate verification.
Yet technology must be accompanied by reliable electricity, sufficient computers, secure systems, trained personnel, independent supervision and penalties for anyone caught facilitating organised fraud.
WAEC should also continue investigating allegations surrounding “miracle centres” without publicly condemning schools on the basis of rumours.
Where evidence establishes organised malpractice, sanctions should be firm enough to deter others.
Where allegations are unsupported, innocent schools and candidates should not suffer reputational damage.
Nigeria’s examination crisis ultimately cannot be solved by computers alone.
It requires a culture in which learning is valued more highly than certificates obtained at any cost.
CBT can make cheating harder. Good teaching, ethical leadership, effective enforcement and honest students must do the rest.
https://punchng.com/cbt-best-way-to-curb-miracle-centres-examination-malpractice-waec-official/
