Abstract

Over the years, secondary students are tempted to choose a career which their parents, peers and people in general think to be a good career which often leads to difficulties. However, choosing a career is one of the biggest issues facing students in secondary school most especially in Nigeria. As the success of the career path choice depend on some factors such as relevant subject grades made in WAEC exam, scores obtained in UTME and availability of the course in the preferred institution. Also, with the limited number of counselors available compared with the number of students. This justifies the need for this study. Thus, this research work explored the possibility of building an Intelligent Expert System for Career Path Selection (IESFCPS). The waterfall model was used for the design. Rule based approach was used for the development of the inference engine and PHP was used to develop the software while SQL was used to develop the database. The knowledge base was formed from UTME brochure. The results revealed that IESFCPS recommend based on career interest, subject requirement and scores obtained in UTME. The study concluded that IESFCPS developed was able to provide guidance to students on career path selection. The system is recommended for students in secondary school especially in science class and school management. Artificial intelligence can be used in the future for the development of the inference engine.