“NUT Slams CBT Plan, Warns It Won’t Stop Malpractice in 2026 Exams”

“NUT Slams CBT Plan, Warns It Won’t Stop Malpractice in 2026 Exams”

NUT, Nigeria Union of Teachers has sounded a serious warning against the Federal Government’s decision to move WAEC and NECO exams fully to computer-based testing by 2026. According to the teachers’ union, this policy shift will not solve the deep-rooted problem of exam malpractice in Nigeria’s education system.

Comrade Audu Amba, the National President of the NUT, described the plan as a surface-level fix for a far bigger issue. In a conversation in Abuja, he argued that exam malpractice is not caused by the mode of testing but by society’s obsession with certificates and grades.

Amba said the country has built a system that values paper qualifications more than real knowledge. “We have placed more emphasis on certificates. What is your grade? What is your scores? Not minding the intellectual intelligence of that student,” he said.

This focus, he noted, has created enormous pressure on students. Some of them, with the help of parents, go to great lengths to cheat just to get the scores needed for those certificates. He believes the system pushes them toward this desperation.

Amba raised a key concern many educators share—rural schools are not ready for CBT. He questioned how the exams will be conducted in areas with no electricity, no internet, and very few trained teachers.

“We are talking about CBT exams. Where is the light, manpower and network? You see, we have a long way to go,” he stated. He said it’s unfair to sit in well-connected cities and make policies that can’t work in remote villages.

He gave a vivid example. In his village, mobile network signals disappear until one walks to a particular spot. That same reality affects countless students across Nigeria.

“There are also some of our students who have not seen a computer before, not to mention operating it,” he added. His words painted a picture of a digital gap between urban and rural students—one that might grow worse if CBT becomes the new standard without proper support.

For Amba, the problem runs deeper than digital access. He called attention to a more painful reality: the disrespect and neglect teachers face daily, especially those in primary schools.

“Teachers in Nigeria are the most marginalised set of people. While every professional is given the necessary attention by the government, teachers are not, most especially the primary school teachers,” he said.

This marginalisation, he added, is not just about words—it reflects in how the government treats teachers. In the Federal Capital Territory, for instance, primary school teachers have gone on strike multiple times.

He revealed that they are still fighting for the same N70,000 minimum wage already paid to other civil servants. “As we are right now in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the primary school teachers have been on strike for so many months. I think this should be the fourth time they have gone on strike,” Amba said.

This frustration runs deep. He finds it ironic that many of today’s leaders were once taught by these same teachers, yet now fail to support them.

Teachers live under the same economic conditions as everyone else, he said. “We go to the same market, belong to the same community, pay the same house rent, go to the same hospital, just like any other Nigerians.”

Amba called on the government to treat teachers with dignity and urgently fund basic education, which he described as the bedrock of national development.

Despite the teachers’ concerns, the Federal Government remains firm. Earlier this year, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced that WAEC and NECO would begin CBT for objective questions in November 2025.

Full implementation, covering both multiple-choice and essay papers, is scheduled for the May/June 2026 cycle. According to Alausa, the transition to CBT will help eliminate malpractice.

To support the plan, the government set up a committee to review exam standards and submit recommendations. But many teachers worry these committees overlook what happens in real classrooms.

For the NUT, the problem isn’t just how students take exams—but why they take them the way they do. Until society values knowledge over paper, Amba says, the system will remain broken.

And unless government truly listens to those on the frontlines—the teachers—policies like CBT may end up deepening old problems rather than solving them.