By Timothy Ekpo
UYO
The State Technical School Board (STSB) has concluded the Computer Based Test (CBT) for the recruitment of over 300 teachers out of the 10,500 candidates that submitted applications to teach in the nine technical colleges in the state.
The exercise, which recently took place at the Ibom e-Libraryin Uyo, was free, fair and orderly conducted, despite an initial crowd control issue on the first day of the test.
Speaking with Midweek Pioneer, the chairman of the board, Elder Godwin Udom, said the computer based test was the first exercise in the series of measures the board had put in place for the selection of easiest 3000 teachers approved by the state government.
Udom said the three days exercise, had a little above 3000 candidates writing the test each day, explaining that the exercise was conducted in 21 trade areas for teachers and workshop assistance.
He stated that what made the exercise easy was the fact that they designed a software and system that regulated the number of candidates that access the hall and equally exposed candidates with tendency to cheat.
Udom noted that most of the candidates were practicingteachers mostly from the private sector who must have spent many years in the system, but desired to be employed by government.
The board chairman said in the exercise, they were conditioned to 50 questions at a time frame of 20 minutes, stressing that it was a deliberate measure adopted by the board to see how professional they were in view of the rot in the education system that the board intended to change for effective service delivery in the technical colleges.
According to him, the foundation for starting a technical school in the state begins with the teachers, a fact he stressed had became necessary that only qualified and experienced graduates were needed to salvage technical education in the state.
He stated that the challenge was how to control the crowd at the first day of the exercise.
On the issue of 10,500 candidates seeking for 300 vacancies, the board chairman said there was no rationale equating the number to the rate of unemployment in the state as 80 percent of those who applied for the job were already working especially in the private sector.
Udom maintained that when the board got the recruitment advertised, it was not sure that applications would be up to 10,000, a development he stressed compelled STSB, to extend the computer based test screening to three days to avoid stampede.
He described the exercise as the best in terms of arrangements and performance and assured that the board would ensure that only the best were called to serve.
The computer based test, which commenced on Saturday March 26, was concluded yesterday, March 29.
Some of the subject areas were information communication technology, electrical installation and maintenance, basic electricity, painting and decoration, fabrication and welding, catering craft, introduction to building construction, carpentry and joinery, plumbing and pipe-fitting, general woodwork and building/engineering drawing.
Others were motor vehicle/mechanic work, refrigerator and air-conditioning, mechanic engineering craft, basic technology, civil/moral education, electrical works, blocklaying and concreting, furniture making, computer craft and marine engineering.
The computer based test was also conducted for workshop support staff in 13 trade areas.
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