EXAMINATION VERIFICATION SYSTEM USING BIOMETRIC
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Formal examination can rightly be defined as the assessment of a person‘s
Performance, when confronted with a series of questions, problems, or tasks set him, in order to ascertain the amount of knowledge that he has acquired, the extent to which he is able to utilize it, or the quality and effectiveness of the skills he has developed.
The Jesuits introduced written examination into their schools in the 16th century. The Definitive Ratio Argue Institution Studiorum of 1599, which was not revised until 1932, contains a code of rules for the conduct of school examinations, which were held annually, and determined whether or not children were promoted to a higher class. During the 19th century, formal written examinations became regular in universities, schools, and other educational institutions. Examinations were also increasingly employed for the selection of recruits to the civil service, and the professions, and to posts in industry and commence. Over the ages, standardized testing has been the most common methodology, yet the validity and credibility of the expanded range of contemporary assessment techniques have been called into question.
There are two types of systems that help automatically establish the identity of a person:
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1) Authentication (verification) systems and
2) Identification systems. In a verification system, a person desired to be identified submits an identity claim to the system, usually via a magnetic stripe card, login name, smart card, etc., and the system either rejects or accepts the submitted claim of identity (Am I who I claim I am?). In an identification system, the system establishes a subject‘s identity (or fails if the subject is not enrolled in the system data base) without the subject‘s having to claim an identity (Who am I?). The topic of this paper is channel towards the development of examination impersonation elimination system and this system would strictly do with the unique feature of identification by means of finger print. A verification system based on fingerprints, and the terms verification, authentication, and identification are used in a loose sense and synonymously.
Accurate automatic personal identification is becoming more and more important to the operation of our increasingly electronically interconnected information society. Traditional automatic personal identification technologies to verify the identity of a person, which use ―Something that you know,‖ such as a personal identification number (PIN), or ―something that you have,‖ such as an identification (ID) card, key, etc., are no longer considered reliable enough to satisfy the security requirements of electronic transactions or school management system. All of these techniques suffer from a common problem of inability to
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differentiate between an authorized person and an impostor who fraudulently acquires the access privilege of the authorized person.
Biometrics is a technology that (uniquely) identifies a person based on his physiological or behavioral characteristics. It relies on ―something that you are‖ to make personal identification and therefore can inherently differentiate between an authorized person and a fraudulent imposter. Although biometrics cannot be used to establish an absolute ―yes/no‖ personal identification like some of the traditional technologies, it can be used to achieve a ―positive identification‖ with a very high level of confidence, such as an error rate of 0.001%. Fingerprint technology using biometrics employ certain advantage of eradicating the problem of examination impersonation by allowing the measure of what you are to perform the security activities of student participation in the exams.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
An examination board is an organization that sets examinations and is responsible for marking them and distributing results. Examination boards have the power to award qualifications, such as SAT scores, to students. Most exam boards are running as non-profit organizations.
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is a not-for-profit examination board formed out of the concern for education in Africa. Established in 1952, the
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council has contributed to education in Anglophonic countries of West Africa (Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia), with the number of examinations they have coordinated, and certificates they have issued. They also formed an endowment fund, to contribute to the education in West Africa, through lectures, and aid to those who cannot afford education.
Dr. Adeyegbe, HNO of WAEC Nigeria (2004) said "the council has developed a team of well-trained and highly motivated staff, and has administered Examinations that are valid and relevant to the educational aspirations of member countries". In a year, over three million candidates registered for the exams coordinated by WAEC. The council also helps other examination bodies (both local and international) in coordinating Examinations.
The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, University of London School Examinations Matriculation Council and West African Departments of Education met in 1948, concerning education in West Africa. The meeting was called to discuss the future policy of education in West Africa. At the meeting, they appointed Dr. George Barker Jeffery (Director of the University Of London Institute Of Education) to visit some West African countries, so as to see the general education level and requirements in West Africa. At the end of Jeffery's three month visit (December 1949- March 1950) to Ghana, the Gambia, Sierra
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Leone, and Nigeria, he tendered a report (since known as Jeffery report) strongly supporting the need for a West African Examination Council, and making detailed recommendations on the composition and duties of the Council. Following this report, the groups met with the governments of these countries, and they agreed on establishing a West African Examination council, fully adopting Jeffery's recommendations.
The legislative assemblies of Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia passed an ordinance (West African Examinations Council Ordinance NO. 40) approving the West African Examination Council in Dec 1951. The Ordinance agreed to the coordination of exams, and issuing of certificates to students in individual countries by the West African Examination Council. Liberia later issued their ordinance in 1974, at the annual meeting held in Lagos, Nigeria. After the success of forming an examination council, the council called a first meeting in Accra, Ghana on March 1953. In the meeting, the registrar briefed everybody about the progress of the council. In that same meeting, five committees were formed to assist the council. These committees are: Administrative and Finance Committee, School Examinations Committee, Public Service Examinations Committee, The Professional, Technical and Commercial Examinations Committee, and the Local Committee. The total number of people present for this meeting was 26.
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ORGANIZATIONAL DIAGRAM
CHAIRMAN OF COUNCIL
DIRECTOR OF BOARD
CHAIRMAN OF EDUCATIONAL SHCEME
CHAIRMAN OF EDUCATIONAL SCHEDULLING
CHAIRMAN OF EXAMS RECORD
INVIGILATORS
DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR
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1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objective of this study is as follows To create a system that is capable of tracking impersonators in the examination system using the methodology of finger print biometrics. To reduce rate of corruption in the educational sector and increase the rate of self confidence on students. To demonstrate the possibility of computer technology in the satisfaction of human needs and also enforce strict security measures that ensure unregistered students do not write exams for other registered students.
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