The Lagos State Government on Saturday conducted placement test for 8,700 primary schools’ pupils seeking admission into its 15 Junior Model and Upgraded Secondary Schools for 2015/2016 academic session.

The State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, who monitored the exercise, said 18 out of the candidates wrote the examination on a pilot Computer-Based Test (CBT).

Oladunjoye said the CBT mode of examination had come to stay in the state.

“We do not want to be left behind. There is the need to prepare the children to be computer literate. The last examination that JAMB did was computer-based hence our children should be conversant with it.

“That is why we thought that at this stage of our development, we should experiment and see how it goes.

“And we can see that the candidates coped very well; I am pleased with the conduct of the examination and I am fulfilled because this is what I had always wanted.

“The pupils are serious-minded and I can see the enthusiasm in them,” she said.

Oladunjoye commended the state examination board for improving on the mode of writing examinations every year.

She said the state government would accommodate the increasing number of candidates in future examinations.

According to her, Saturday’s examination was better than that of 2014.

Also speaking, the Director, Lagos State Examinations Board, Mr Femi Hassan, said that CBT would curb examination malpractice because the questions were randomised.

He said: “As a government, we saw that we have the capacity to do a CBT and we tried a pilot scheme and today it is a success.

“In CBT, questions are randomised; students cannot copy each other, your question one will not be the same with others.”

Hassan announced that the state government would conduct the next Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination (JSSCE) by CBT in 2016.

Some of the parents, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the examination.

Mrs Omowunmi Fakunle, a parent, said that she preferred the model schools because the state government had invested heavily in the education subsector.

Some of the centres monitored by NAN include Vetland Junior and Senior Grammar School, Agege, Government Junior College, Agege and the Lagos State Examination Board, venue of the CBT.

The 15 model colleges and upgraded schools include Model Junior College, Meiran; Vetland Junior Grammar School, Ifako Ijaiye; Model Junior College, Igbokuta and Civil Service Model Junior College, Igbogbo.

Others are Oriwu Model Junior College, Ikorodu; Government Junior College, Ikorodu; Model Junior College, Igbonla; Model Junior College, Agbowa; Model Junior College Badore; and Lagos State Junior Model College, Ojo.

Eva Adelaja Memorial Junior Secondary, Bariga; Model Junior College, Kankon; Government Junior College, Ketu, Epe; Epe Junior Grammar, Epe; and Badagry Junior Grammar School, Badagry, are also on the list.(NAN)

•Photo shows students in exam hall