Some candidates that took the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) International Office CBT Centre in Agidingbi, Lagos, on the first day complained they were not allowed to finish, despite not using up their time.
They lamented that they had experienced trouble logging in, which set them back by about an hour. Yet, despite not exhausting the two-hour time allotted to them, they were told to leave the hall.
They were among the last set scheduled to write the examination that day.
However, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said supervisors do not have powers to stop candidates before their time has ended.
Journalists were not allowed into the centre, so The Nation observed from outside the gates.
A girl, who came out about 6pm, told her father she was lucky to have finished after starting an hour late.
“Daddy! My computer had problems. I started like one hour late. Luckily I had finished before they said we should log out,” she said with relief in her voice.
However, a candidate, who gave his name as Kelechi, and another candidate, a girl, who came out afterwards were not so lucky.
Kelechi told his waiting teacher that he was unable to finish half of the 40-question Mathematics paper, though he had almost 30 minutes left.
“I started one hour late. I had like 30 minutes left, but they told me to log out, if not, they’d log me out. I was the only one left in my hall. I finished everything, but I still had like half of the Maths to do,” he said in a subdued voice.
The other girl dissolved into tears as she told her mother what transpired in the hall.
“When we got in the server was down, so they were moving us up and down. I started around past 4pm. After some time, they told everybody to come out. But, I still had like 40 minutes left. It was not as if I didn’t know what to do,” she said crying again.
When asked to comment on the matter, the Centre Supervisor, who did not give his name, denied that the candidates were not allowed to use up their time.
“Do you believe what they told you? They are lying. How can we not possibly allow them to finish their time? Why didn’t you get their names?”
Our reporter pointed to Kelechi, who was still around with his teacher, waiting to be picked up.
The Supervisor walked over to him and asked if it was true he was not allowed to finish. Kelechi nodded in the affirmative. However, rather than say anything, the supervisor stomped away, refusing further comments.
When asked to comment on the matter, the Director of Information, JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said it was unlikely the candidates were stopped before their time.
“Do you believe just what three candidates said rather than us? We have seen situations whereby candidates complained that they didn’t finish but when we checked, 80 per cent of them had attempted all the questions.
“I am not saying this examination has been without issues, but we are on top of it to address whatever goes wrong. For instance when we discovered malpractice at a centre, we cancelled the examination and relocated the candidates to another centre to retake the examination.
“We have been monitoring all computers in this examination from Abuja. A supervisor cannot even tell candidates to log out. We are watching everything; he dares not.
“The WAEC International Centre is one of the best centres in the country. If you say this kind of thing happened, you are saying that most of the centres in Lagos did not do well. There have been so many good things about this examination,” he said.
The UTME went hitch free in many of the centres monitored by The Nation between last Friday and Tuesday.
The majority of the candidates said they were satisfied with the exam and expected good results at the end.
A candidate, Pricillia Thompson, who wrote at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) centre, said the examination was easy.
“There were no challenges for me. Some candidates had registration number issues, but the examination went well. I am so happy,” she said.
A candidate from the electronic Test Centre, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Precious Imoh, also said her exam went well.
At the Digital Bridge Institute, Oshodi, Joseph Peters said: “The exam went well. I had no issue of any sort. Just left for you to get your answers correctly.
Chika Chinemerem praised the level of organisation.
“When I came in the morning, I almost thought the examination would not hold because unlike JAMB, the environment is always crowded with students and parents. It is actually a good concept to reduce crowding and unnecessary waste of time at JAMB venues,” he said.
However, the Dalewares Institute of Technology, in Palm Grove, Lagos had problems on the first day because most of the computers were not working well and problem connecting to the server.
The examination started at 3:50pm and ended at 7:30pm. Some candidates had to write in turns waiting for available system to use for the examination.
Nevertheless, things improved at the centre on the second day. Except for massive login issue in the second session, which was later sorted out, the examination went well.
The candidates, however, complained that the hall was stuffy.
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