2015 UTME: JAMB should do better
Indeed, the hiccups were serious enough to persuade JAMB to re-schedule the CBT examination from the initial March 2 takeoff date. These included inability of candidates to print out their examination slips, due mainly to poor internet connectivity.By yesterday, it was clear that JAMB needed to ramp up its technical team to manage the situation […]
Indeed, the hiccups were serious enough to persuade JAMB to re-schedule the CBT examination from the initial March 2 takeoff date. These included inability of candidates to print out their examination slips, due mainly to poor internet connectivity.
By yesterday, it was clear that JAMB needed to ramp up its technical team to manage the situation and prevent total chaos. Candidates were expected to take the CBT in three streams, one each in the morning, after and evening. Due to some of the hitches, the morning stream in many centres did not start until late afternoon, leaving open to question whether other streams would be able to sit. Many candidates travelled long distances in order to get to designated centres in state capitals, or to access better internet connection to print out examination slips that are unique to individuals. Many of such candidates who travelled, for example, from the 44 local government areas of Kano State, spent several days without getting their slips printed out due either to poor internet service at the centres or congestion occasioned by the limited number of approved centres, which was the case in many states.
The frustrations in printing out the e-slip led to protests by candidates In Makurdi, where the police arrested 50 of them. In Jos, the police fired into the air to disperse angry candidates who could not print out their slips. There were reports also that JAMB officials capitalised on the rush for printouts to make quick but illegal money on the side by charging extra fees.
Questions have been asked about JAMB’s process in the accreditation of examination centres. For instance, an approved centre which had 250 computers at the point of accreditation was discovered later to have only 30.
JAMB had at least one year to put its acts together since it announced that the CBT would be the sole mode of examination for candidates seeking university admission. That these hitches are happening regardless indicate that the authorities took too much for granted.
Poor public enlightenment on the procedure of the CBT is part of the problem. The fact that JAMB had to send its officials to some centres to clarify some issues underscores this point. The failure of the National Assembly to intervene promptly and appropriately to ensure that JAMB completes all due diligence requirements for CBT before full implementation is also a factor. The intervention of the legislature in 2013 compelling JAMB to defer its decision for full implementation of CBT saved the day for thousands of UTME candidates from being left out of the examination loop, averting serious consequences for the nation.
JAMB’s haste of imposing the CBT on UTME candidates is misplaced, given the grossly inadequate infrastructure needed for its successful implementation. Electricity supply is still a huge challenge in most parts of the country.
At the same time, it would be ill-advised to isolate Nigeria from global ICT standards, such as CBT represents. But the introduction of CBT should been done in phases, so that over a reasonable period, say five or ten years, it would have been in full application.
Thus if the current hitches being currently experienced persist, JAMB would have to return to the drawing-board. In the meantime, the old Paper and Pencil Test (PPT) mode of UTME would have to make a comeback, even if briefly, until such a time the infrastructure deficits of CBT have been overcome. Whatever the case might be, no candidate should be denied the chance to sit for the 2015 UTME.