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Tag: JAMB

  • Malpractice: more than 10,000 candidates caught in Anambra, says JAMB

    Malpractice: more than 10,000 candidates caught in Anambra, says JAMB

    The Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) says more than 10,000 candidates caught for examination malpractices in the on-going UTME in Anambra have been handed over to appropriate authority.

    Mrs Lynda Nwachukwu, the Coordinator of the board in Anambra, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka on Saturday.

    NAN reports that the all computer-based testing (CBT) mode 2017 UTME, which started on May 13 in 642 centres nationwide, ended on May 20.

    Nwachukwu said that the examination, which took place in 28 centres in the state, was successful.

    “There was no disruption of the exercise in any of the examination centres,’’ she said.

    The coordinator said that the candidates adhered strictly to the requirements of the examination, adding that JAMB provided all the materials required for the examination.

    NAN correspondent, who monitored the last batch of the examination, reports that some parents complained of system failure in some CBT centres in the state.

    Mrs Eucharia Okonkwo, a parent, said her daughter, who wrote the examination at the St Mary’s High School Ifite-Dunu centre, could not complete the examination due to the faulty computer and network failure at the centre.

    According to her daughter, many candidates could not complete the questions in record time because of the faulty system.

    Okonkwo advised JAMB to plan well for examination in subsequent years to avoid the technical hitches that could give the candidates psychological trauma.

    Dr. Mose Mojekeh, Head, Department of Marketing at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, told NAN on a telephone, that such system failure in UTME was not acceptable.

    According to him, the hiccups could potentially deny young people from Anambra State, university admission.

    Mojekeh advised JAMB to urgently collate the number of candidates affected and set another examination for them.

    He also decried the practice whereby JAMB sends officials from one state to supervise examinations in another state.

    “Experience has shown that such officials do not care much about the candidates when problems arise, as they leave them to their fate,’’ the lecturer said.

    He called on the management of schools, whose candidates experienced the computer failure, to take their complaints to the State Ministry of Education to present their cases.

  • We didn’t deduct UTME candidates’ marks – JAMB

    We didn’t deduct UTME candidates’ marks – JAMB

    The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Friday dismissed reports that it deducted marks of candidates that sat for this year Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

    It advised the candidates to disregard the rumour.

    The Head of JAMB Information and Media, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, dismissed the reports in a statement in Abuja.

    According to Benjamin, the rumour was false, devilish and a ploy to cause disaffection among candidates who participated in the UTME.

    He said, “It is no longer news that all our centres have CCTV camera and we have watched all proceedings at the Computer Based Test (CBT) centres across the nation.

    “Those involved in any infraction will be sanctioned in accordance with the provision of the Examination Malpractice Act.

    “The board has not deducted any marks from any candidate and is not contemplating doing that as it is not a condition for sanction in any of the provisions of the law against malpractice.

    “Again, we call on all candidates to be mindful of fraudulent characters who will send misleading information to create panic and take advantage of the situation to defraud them.”

    Benjamin said the examinations had so far been conducted for 1,698,835 candidates, adding that the remaining 19,950 would sit for the examination on Saturday.

     

  • JAMB plans new registration process for 2018 UTME – Registrar

    JAMB plans new registration process for 2018 UTME – Registrar

    Professor.Is-haq Oloyede, Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB),  says the board may introduce a new mode of registration in 2018 to checkmate fraudsters.

    Oloyede, who made the remarks at a news conference on Thursday in Lagos, also said any Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidate, defrauded by con men, deserved no sympathy.

    The registrar said the board would continue to introduce measures to beat examination malpractice, adding that next year’s examination might have a new registration mode.

    “Among the malpractices discovered this year was a case of two different persons having fingerprints for a candidate.

    “In this case, it is the impersonator and the person being impersonated conniving with some other persons at the CBT centres.

    “However, as they are coming up with all these tricks, we are putting modalities on ground to be ahead of them.

    “I want to assure that next year’s examination might not use the current method we used in the examination process.

    “People are being criminally innovative, but that will not stop us from moving ahead and protecting the sanctity and integrity of our examination,’’ Oloyede said.

    According to him, those candidates, who might have been defrauded deserve no sympathy because they were looking for ways to circumvent the integrity of the UTME.

    “Even parents besiege examination centres, looking for means to `corner’ impersonators to hire in order to help their children pass the examination.

    “In this case, it is widely observed that family values have been eroded and it is indeed painful.’’ Oloyede said.

    The registrar said  some `mushroom’ computer based testing (CBT) centres had derailed from the set rules.

    “They do not deserve to be assisted as some of them, connive to defraud the innocent public as they do anything possible to make money.

    “They even create VIP rooms in their centres by extending JAMB cables into a private room, where they write the examination for candidates for a fee.

    Oloyede, however, exonerated some centres, saying they had perfected the vision of JAMB.

    He added that the board was encouraging such upcoming and prospective CBT centres to key into the board’s vision.

    Assessing the conduct of the examination so far, the registrar said the conduct of the examination could be adjudged “free and fair’’ in spite of few hitches in some centres.

    “So far, 1,648,429 candidates have written the  CBT mode examination,’’

    Oloyede said he was in Lagos for an on the spot assessment of some centres in the state.

    “I must say that some of these centres did not really meet our standards nor abide by our rules.

    “Some of these `mushroom’ centres broke the rules by conniving with some candidates to compromise the integrity of the examination.

    “It is indeed sad and painful that parents and even the candidates allow themselves to be defrauded and used by the owners of some of these centres.

    “However, so far, it has been good even though we have seen how clever and wise our people can be, having tried to deploy all kinds of shady means to cheat,’’ he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 1.7 million candidates registered for the examination, which is expected to end on May 20. (NAN)

  • Group praises JAMB amid challenges

    A civil society   group, Joint Action  Coalition on Education (JACE), has showered encomiums on the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on the success of the University Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), which began over the weekend. This is in spite of a handful of challenges that confronted the conduct of JAMB UTME.

    The group said this year’s edition met set standards when juxtaposed with past experiences, and that a few incidents recorded were largely due to human factor and not by systems or the process

    Speaking to  reporters at Ogba, Lagos, the group’s Southwest zonal coordinator Mr Ayokunle Adumashin, noted that no system is ever perfect, adding that the few glitches recorded could be corrected by continuous investment in broadband penetration and stability, in addition to improving on power supply in the country.

    Adumashin said the mock UTME conducted a fortnight to the main examination, proved useful in exposing candidates to what to expect in the examination. He admonished the government to strengthen  ICT in secondary schools to ensure that candidates do not experience cyber phobia anytime they are exposed to computers or technology.

    He praised JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq  Oloyede, and his team on the handling of the UTME, urging them to conduct an evaluation of the ongoing examination to forstall possible pitfalls in future.

  • UTME: JAMB directs candidates to check results on its website

    UTME: JAMB directs candidates to check results on its website

    THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has advised candidates, who sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) on Saturday, to visit the board’s website or check their e-mails for their results.

    The organisation’s Head of Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, said this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.

    Fabian said the results of candidates, who wrote the UTME were released within 24 hours of the examination.

    “The results were released within 24 hours of the examination. Candidates are to check their e-mail addresses or visit the board’s website for their results,” he said.

    He said about 1,144,198 of the 1,718,425 candidates that registered for the UTME had written the examination.

    The UTME started on Saturday in 642 Computer Based Test centres across the country.

    “A total of 742,906 candidates took the examination on Saturday, 13th and Monday 15th May, 2017. Another 401,292 candidates are expected to join them today, raising the number to over 1,144,198 out of the 1,718,425 candidates slated for the examination this year.

    “The conduct of the examination has been adjudged to be excellent by all stakeholders, parent, students and the mass media. Particularly acknowledged is the prompt response of the Board to the very few technical issues that have been reported during the nationwide exercise. A rapid standby response technical team is on standby at the headquarters to receive and address complaints from the 642 centres across the country.

    “All these and other innovation put in place by the board has made the on-going examination seamless and coordinated.

    “The 2017 UTME is slated to end on Saturday May 20, 2017,” he said.

  • Man threatens to sue JAMB if examination is not rescheduled 

    Man threatens to sue JAMB if examination is not rescheduled 

    One Smart Osagiede, whose ward, Esther Edemodu, allegedly experienced network failure while writing the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) last Saturday has called for the rescheduling of the examination.

    Mr. Smart threatened legal action against JAMB for what he termed breach of contract against the Nigerian parents and every candidate who fell victims to ‘the inadequate preparation’ by the examination body.

    Smart said his ward wrote the examination at the College of Education, Igueben but experienced consistent network failure.

    He told our reporter that the examination which was scheduled to begin at 7am did not commence till 2pm.

    According to him, “We all remember how the JAMB registrar came on air to tell Nigerians of how prepared they were to conduct the exams.  What played out is a reversal of what played out in most of the centres, especially Igueben in Edo State.  We are waiting for JAMB ‘S reaction to their failure.

    “The failure is a breach of confidence Nigerians have in JAMB.  Parents are asking for a reschedule in the affected areas. The issue of INEC’s Electoral inconclusiveness has been replicated by JAMB. Our children must not be robbed of their opportunity to fair play to achieving their ambition to higher education.

    “Network failure led to candidates’ inability to finish on time.  Those who were lucky enough to experience good network were hurriedly stopped from using up the time allowed to create space for those who experienced irregular network.  This almost led to a total breakdown of law and order. Candidates were emotionally rattled.”

  • UTME: JAMB arrests cyber cafe operators for selling information to candidates for N10,000

    UTME: JAMB arrests cyber cafe operators for selling information to candidates for N10,000

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) yesterday said it had arrested operators of cyber  cafés for defrauding candidates of the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for N10,000 to access information on their e-mails.

    Its Head of Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, said this yesterday in a statement issued in Abuja.

    He said the operators  deliberately changed the e-mail addresses and passwords of candidates to ensure that messages sent to the candidates by JAMB get to them (operators of cyber cafes) and in turn sell such information.

    “We also appeal to candidates not to allow cheats to defraud them as we have arrested cyber cafe operators who changed candidates email addresses and passwords  and ensure that all messages send to candidates get to them and in turn sale such information like examination notification for N10,000.

    “It’s our humble expectation that a candidate aspiring to be a student in any tertiary institution should be able to operate an email. All information are send to their email addresses and also on our site for the public use,” he said.

    He said the organisation did not post candidates out of their preferred towns as was reported in the media.

    “Again we want to reiterate that we did not post any candidate outside his or her town of choice as expressed in their application, contrary to reports in some quarters. Candidates are always allowed to make a choice of examination town while we allocate centres within the examination town chosen by a candidate,” he said.

    Fabian hailed the organisation for the successful conduct of the UTME, which began on Saturday across 642 computer based centres (CBT).

    He said: “We are happy that the 2017 UTME, which kicked off on Saturday, May 13, has been hitch-free so far and in line with the arrangements put in place for candidates to write the examination without stress.

    “All negative speculation of shift, change of schedules etc over the ongoing 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examinations (UTME) are from mischief-makers, who are desperate to create confusion before or during the exams, owing to personal and selfish interests that are detrimental to the development of public examination and education.

    “We thank all Nigerians who supported this drive. We promise that we will continue to fine-tune the process for the better. From the reports across the federation, there has not been any major hitch on the ongoing UTME with over 1.7 million registered candidates captured for the examination.”

    He advised candidates to check JAMB’s website as well as its official twitter handle for information concerning the conduct of the examination.

  • JAMB and Africa’s place in global ICT revolution

    One of Africa’s most talked-about ICT success stories in the education sector is the adoption of Computer Based Test (CBT) for entrance examination into tertiary schools organized by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board, a body with a core mandate to conduct matriculation examination for entry into all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in Nigeria.

    Globally, there has been an ICT revolution since 2000. The internet economy has grown larger and faster than could have been reasonably expected back then.  In future, technology, connectedness, the internet-of-things all promise a more efficient, fast-paced economy set within an accessible global market. But how can Africa really harness all this change to its betterment?

    For a long time, ‘creativity’ and ‘innovation’ in technology were only latent concepts in Africa in general, and Nigeria in particular, until the dawn of the digital age. ICT plays an important, valuable and critical role in education development. Its usage has become very common but its full potential is yet to be discovered. Nigeria’s JAMB is now playing a critical role in ensuring that Africa maintains its pride of place in the Global ICT arena with a particular reference to education. It is heartwarming to see that fact that developing countries have now understood the importance of ICT and have started adapting to it as a basic tool for quality education.

    The trailblazing credentials of JAMB experienced a surge with the coming on board of Professor Ishaq Oloyede, who has accelerated reforms at the institution and fast-tracked innovation. JAMB is applying ICT to areas that no one would have thought possible.

    The ICT mediated examination innovation by JAMB, which replaced the Paper and Pencil Based examination system that was fraught with problems of accuracy and delay in timely results’ declaration is an effective tool for integrating and automating the activities of examination system to bring reliable, efficient, transparent and robust e-examination solutions for Africa.

    JAMB, especially under Professor Oleyede, has increased its institutional capacity and credibility since the introduction of the CBT in 2015. Determined to make the Computer Based Test all inclusive to different category of candidates with disabilities, JAMB embarked on nationwide training for visually impaired on the use of Apex Braille-note computer. This is quite commendable.

    The Apex Braille-note computer is an electronic devise invented by the board to enable visually impaired to take the Computer Based Test without stress like a normal Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination candidate.

    The machine is affixed to a desktop computer and questions are deployed to it electronically with hearing aid. No fewer than 200 visually impaired participants in the training held at designated venues across the nation; namely South West Resource Centre in Abeokuta, Lagos , Kano, Enugu and Port Harcourt.

    It is a good thing that the parliament through the House of Representatives committee on education has thrown its weight behind the JAMBs ICT drive with reference to the Computer Based Test (CBT) when it said the electronic test was in tandem with global dictates to sanitized the education system. “The paper Pencil Test (PPT) was cumbersome and characterized with several irregularities and unwholesome activities. The world is flying and we cannot be crawling”. The chairman of the House of Representatives committee on education Hon. Zakari Mohammed was quoted to have said.

    Thus, if the board’s major objective is to completely eliminate malpractices through the conduct of CBT, it may as well have achieved it because the CBT has to a large extent eliminated malpractice in the examination process. As with everything good, there are those who will lose because of the elimination of malpractices. These are the people that pick holes in the reform and tend to highlight the few teething issues.

    Irrespective of how much such people try to make a mountain out of a molehill, JAMB could compete auspiciously with any examination body in the world considering its innovation in digitizing its examination. The innovation has now restored confidence and integrity in its examination process. With the pace of the current registrar, the body is set to become a global reference point.

    From its application to obviously mundane tasks to its use for the noblest of all human endeavors, the place of information and communication technology (ICT) in today’s world cannot be over-emphasized. The fate of individuals, businesses and countries largely depends on how fast they latch on to the ICT revolution and stay ahead in the game. It is the 21st Century equivalent of the scramble for land and territory most races of humankind have been involved in from ages past.

    Against the backdrop of the importance of ICT to the present era, the effort by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) which has now phased out the use of the paper and pencil method for its examinations in favour of computer-based tests, is not only a commendable step in the right direction, it is also a pointer to the fact that Africa and indeed Nigeria is playing a very crucial role in global ICT revolution.

    A disquieting percentage of graduates in the country today are not computer literate, thus, making them unemployable. This wouldn’t have been the trend if all critical stakeholders in the education string had been proactive in espousing ICT, specifically in testing candidates over the last two decades. The contemporary workplace is ICT-oriented and anyone not trained in this direction is hopelessly unfit to take on many tasks in the corporate world, which can only get more sophisticated, as technology is being daily improved to work more for the human race. Embracing ICT for providing the robust, transparent, accurate and authenticated outputs as we have witnessed with the JAMB innovation brings substantial quality improvement in education and this needs to be extended to other examinations in the country.

    Nigeria’s JAMB has taken the lead. There is no gainsaying the fact that ICT will make exam system more efficient and transparent. This will produce competent human resources, which will contribute to the development of the country. The development at JAMB, which fully digitized and modernized most of its operation is the way to go and should be rolled across others facets of the education sector.

    A consensus has been built around the fact that today is the era of technology which is resulting in changing the life style of people. Today many African institutions are imparting education in the field of ICT, but its application in the functioning of the system is low. The meaning of computerization is limited to just typing or surfing web; full potential of ICT has not been explored. ICT is a useful tool to have transparency, reliability and efficiency in examination system. There are tremendous facilitations integrating ICT with examination system. JAMB’s ICT innovation from what we have seen will ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the examination system and effectively deal with malpractice and inefficiency thus bringing about the much needed change.

     

    • Clement, a medical practitioner, contributed this piece from Harvard University, USA.

  • JAMB monitoring UTME through CCTV cameras – official

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it is monitoring the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), through its central Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in Abuja.

    Its Niger Coordinator, Mr Muhammed Ibrahim, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Minna that all the examination centres were linked to the CCTV.

    “Our staff, candidates and supervisors in all examination centres are being watched and recorded; it is part of our efforts to reduce or eliminate malpractices in the conduct of the test,” he said.

    The Coordinator said that 32, 000 candidates registered for the examination in Niger and were writing the test in 14 centres.

    He said that the exercise was smooth in many centres except at Jumai Aliyu Babangida Development Centre, Minna where a system failure was recorded.

    “The issue lingered a bit, so we immediately moved the candidates to the zonal office to write the examination,” he said.

    He said that the examination, which started on Saturday, would end on Wednesday, and promised a hitch-free exercise.

    A candidate, Fatima Mustapha, who spoke to NAN in Minna, said that the process was smooth, and particularly commended JAMB for the speed of the bio-metric verification of candidates before being admitted into the hall.

    Mr Saidu Abubakar, a personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, who also spoke with NAN, commended the candidates for being orderly.

    “The candidates have been very orderly. There are no hitches,” he said.

    JAMB Registrar Ishaq Oloyede said recently that 1.736 million candidates registered for the 2017 UTME, signifying a sharp rise in people seeking university admission when compared with the 1,272,284 candidates that wrote the test in 2016. (NAN)

  • UTME: Candidates, parents hail JAMB

    UTME: Candidates, parents hail JAMB

    •Minor hitches in Lagos centres

    The Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB) yesterday cleared itself of the wedge of suspicion after the rather disappointing MOCK -UTME it conducted nearly two months ago.

    The body restored its credibility with candidates and parents hailing the conduct of the entrance examinations.

    Except for alterations in takeoff time and few cases of power outage (the exam was to start by 7am), many of the centres in Lagos our reporters visited were hitch- free.

    Candidates praised the examination body for a job well done.

    Each of the JAMB accredited centre has a functioning CCTV linked to other centres and wired to JAMB headquarters in Abuja.

    At the Florin High School Ejigbo centre, all candidates were seated before 8am but examination started by 9.30 due to little hitches.

    But as soon as the examination started, there were no distractions.

    Candidates expressed delight with the exercise.

    When our correspondent arrived Classic International School, Ejigbo around 9.20 am, many candidates were done with the examination.

    They were seated before 8.00am and started the examination at exactly 8.00am.

    “The venue is good. I like the conducive environment and the air conditioned hall. I also love the way the supervisors attended to us,” a candidate said.

    The zonal examiner of the Ejigbo, Idimu, Ijegun, Ikotun and Egbe, Dr Emmanuel Akinwale, said the era of examination malpractice was gradually coming to an end because candidates know they must read to pass.

    At Comnnexxion Centre in Iyana Ishahsi along Lagos Badagry expressway, candidates did not begin until around 9am though it went smoothly.

    A candidate, who identified herself as Seun, said there would be less of complaints if JAMB set this kind of precedence and follow through.

    A parent, Olayiwola Adigun, who saw his daughter Temilade to the centre, said what he witnessed has renewed his confidence in JAMB.

    “Initially, I was skeptical because I was also here during the mock exam and witnessed everything that happened.

    “I am happy that what happened today (yesterday) is in sharp contrast to that ugly incident.

    “If JAMB could continue like this in subsequent edition, I am sure Nigerians will have more confidence.”

    It was also observed examination racket was highly minimised. Some candidates, who had earlier paid to obtain answers from phone websites, were disappointed to discover most of the answers were spurious.

    A candidate who chose to remain anonymous posted his frustrations on the social media.

    He wrote: “All the answers sent by webmasters and runz people are fake. By the way I just heard from someone, people’s money do go be dat!”

    At the Digital Bridge Institute, Cappa, Oshodi all the candidates scored JAMB high.

    Amaka Ozoani said: “Kudos to JAMB. Everything went well. I did not experience any hitches from the computer.

    Daniel Osuji said: “I enjoyed the easiness of the exam. Though initially the system was not responding but it later came up and everything went fine.

    “The hall was air conditioned and it helped to keep our brains stable.”

    Another candidate said: “I score JAMB 70%. It still needs improvement in the area of timing. The exam started around 9 as against 7am.

    A parent, Anthony Daniels, said: “I came here with my son having in mind that it is going to be the usual issues associated with this exam but JAMB has proven me wrong.

    “I must say this is a right step in the right direction. If we keep seeing improvement in JAMB all the time, then we have no need to worry”.

    But as at about 10:30, the examination scheduled to begin at 7:30 am at Shoms Intl’ School, Bariga was yet to begin.

    Parents and some candidates who got to the centre for the second and third exam slots blamed the delay on the faulty generator expected to power the computers.