The Rivers State Government has expressed its readiness to ensure that students in the state are prepared for the 2013 Computer Based Testing (CBT) of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for next year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The commissioner for Education, Dame Alice Lawrence-Nemi stated this while briefing newsmen in her office in Port Harcourt last week.

Dame Lawrence-Nemi said the state had already trained the teachers in various ICT skills, adding that the teachers are now well equipped to guide the students for the CBT in 2013.

The commissioner noted that Rivers State was poised to become the new ICT hub in the country because of the facilities provided by the government in various  primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.

She disclosed that the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST) was leading the way in ICT in the country emphasising that Rivers State ICT Centre which was donated by Zenith Bank would be fully utilised during the training period.

According to her, ICT  Centre is open to the general public and it offers courses like computer appreciation and internet core computer certification (ICCO).

The centre, she noted, offers free training to the public which is in line with the free education policy of the present administration reaffirming the ministry’s readiness to create awareness for the CBT for the 2013 UTME across the state.

“The ministry will reach out to all schools especially the government owned schools. Through such awareness, the students especially the ones in rural areas will be fully informed about the e-testing”, she maintained.

She said emphasis would be placed on the students in the rural areas adding that Rivers State has already braced up for an ICT driven economy and e-learning.

She said the state government had introduced e-library in our model primary schools and in most of the secondary schools.

“The world is now a global village because of the improvement in technology which is the major reason the state is preparing the students to embrace ICT” she said she revealed the economic Potentials of ICT and stated that the sector would reduce the high level of unemployment rate in the country should Nigeria embrace an ICT-driven economy.