Calls to scrap the common entrance examination may be premature, according to education stakeholders, who insist that Nigeria must first tackle persistent challenges such as poor infrastructure, inadequate funding and declining learning standards before embarking on such a reform.
The federal government earlier in the year announced a plan to phase out the national common entrance examination, and replace it with continuous assessment (C.A) and a learner identification number (LIN) to track each child’s progress.
Adaobi Nsofor, a teacher based in Abuja, said, “The federal government have to look at the policy holistically and do robust research on what they are doing.
“Introducing learner identification number is good, but I think they need to work more on the systems and try it in bits.”
Nsofor emphasised that Nigeria is still struggling with network hitches, which make it difficult to operate a seamless learner identification in the education sector.
