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The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has assured candidates whose exams were affected by system issues and other disruptions in the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) that they would be rescheduled to write them at a later date.
The Council stated this on Friday in Abuja, during the monitoring of the ongoing UTME by the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education, in response to queries raised by disgruntled parents and candidates, whose examinations were disrupted at the Good Success Computer Based Test (CBT) Centre, Utako.
Speaking while monitoring the exercise in Bwari, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, Senator Mohammed Dandutse, agreed that the JAMB and CBT centers faced many challenges but promised to resolve them.
He said: “We have seen progress and we have seen many challenges faced by the centres. And this is not just in Abuja, it is across the country. As a matter of fact, we sincerely appreciate what we have seen so far.
“The other problem is a technical problem, it happened yesterday and it happened today too, as the proctor explained. But the truth is that it was a constraint for JAMB because these problems need to be addressed even before the exam.
“As senators who are solely responsible for overseeing and investigating matters arising from this JAMB examination, I think we will look at how JAMB will improve in most activities.
“We have already instructed them and told them to urgently take definitive action for the student to write the exam. And at the same time we will review all activities in JAMB so that we can ensure that these things do not happen again.
“So we will definitely address this issue and make sure that all the CBT centers are well functioning and efficient. Because there is no moral justification for someone to come from far away and live in trauma without taking the exam.”
However, JAMB Public Communications Advisor Dr. Fabian Benjamin maintained that the problems were expected, reassuring that the council would do the needful.
He said: “Of course, you should have one or two challenges here and there. It’s not unusual and I don’t think there is anyone who will conduct the exam using a thousand centers and then expect that you won’t have any problem. But the most important thing is that if this problem occurs, are you ready to handle it? And that’s what we just did there.
“That all those candidates will be rescheduled to another date, to another center where they will take the exam. It is natural to have a problem.
“As Nigerians, as citizens, who at least pay us with public money, we are using public money, they expect 100%. But we know as operators that it is not easy, it is not possible to give 100%.
“But when you get 90%, at least you should have a passing score. But for the candidates who went there, used all the hours and sat in the room and then didn’t take the exam, they are expected to vent their frustration. But that’s natural.
“We are assuring all Nigerians that every candidate who registered for this exam will be given the opportunity to sit for this exam. If your center fails today, you will be rescheduled again to take the exam. For any reason, even when you are rescheduled, and for whatever reason, you are unable to sit the exam, you will be rescheduled again.
“That’s why when we finish the exam, we have what we call mop-up. The mop-up is to ensure that candidates whose center has failed and they couldn’t take the exam, we pick them up, give them a particular date when they can take the exam. Since it’s a contract we have made with them, they have to take the exam.
“But we will continue to do our best to ensure that these centers have minimal failure. And that’s what we’re doing. Of the 957 that we’re using for this exam, I’m not sure that we’ve had as many as 10 or 8 centers that have failed.”
However, a visibly disgruntled parent, Mr David Afolanyo, lamented that the situation could have been saved earlier.
He said: “My daughter is writing the UTME. She was supposed to write yesterday, but they said there was no network. They said we should come today to write. We came today. We have been here since 6 and now they are telling us to go, that they will send us a text message.
“Our elected officials are here saying they will investigate. Do they know today that JAMB has a problem? In the Senate we have a committee on education. In the House of Representatives we have a committee on education. So they want to tell me they haven’t known about this problem for three years?”
“They are talking about moving the children to another centre. Some children have paid more than 6,000, 10,000 Naira as transportation to get here. Who will pay for them to go there again?”
Similarly, a candidate, Eunice Peter, who traveled from Kaduna for the exam, vented her frustration as she was unable to attend both Day 1 and Day 2.
“I came from Kaduna to come and write this exam. I paid 7,000 Naira, I paid for a lodge. When I got to the lodge, it was around 10pm. I left the lodge at 5am to look for this centre. Now they tell me they will reschedule. So I have to pay all that 7,000 Naira to go back. It’s not nice,” she lamented.
