The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have concluded plans to conduct the 2022 National Assessment of Learning Achievement in Basic Education (NALABE).
Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Bobboyi, disclosed this at a five-day workshop for the development of test items for the NALABE) in Nigeria.
In a statement signed by the Commission’s Head of Public Relations and Protocol, David Apeh, the executive secretary said UBEC and UNICEF have put everything together for the conduct of an internationally accepted National assessment of NALABE.
According to him, the workshop is aimed at achieving the following objectives among others: to generate the test items in four core subjects in primary three and five, JSS 2, development of assessment framework that will help to come up with the test blueprint that will guide in test items, objectives and content.
The commission said the workshop will also produce a development test blueprint and generate test items that will be trial tested for standardisation.
Bobboyi, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary, Prof. Bala Zakari, said since the inception of UBEC, the commission has conducted five studies, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2011 and 2017, based on its mandate as enshrined in the UBE Act of 2004.
The National Assessment is a survey of schools and learning to provide evidence about learners’ achievement in identified curriculum areas, such as reading/literacy, mathematics/numeracy, science and other skills, for a clearly defined part of the education system.
The Director Quality Assurance, Mallam Mansir Idris said, the Commission in its quest to conduct a national assessment that would be recognised and acceptable by stakeholders nationally and internationally, identify the need to collaborate and work closely with international agencies such as IEA, UNICEF, FCDO, and other agencies involved in large scale assessment for the development and standardised test items.
He noted that in September 2021, the Commission in collaboration with UNICEF and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), organised an international workshop on large scale assessment for basic education in Nigeria, where previous assessment exercises in Nigeria where previous assessment exercises were reviewed and areas of improvement were identified.