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Tag: utme

  • Beyond scrapping UTME and NECO

    Beyond scrapping UTME and NECO

    What does the future hold for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the National Examinations Council (NECO)? A presidential panel led by former Head of Service, Mr Stephen Oronsaye has suggested that both bodies be scrapped. For JAMB, the committee advised a modification of functions: it should no longer conduct the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME); rather, it should coordinate the admissions window for tertiary institutions as they choose their students so they know which ones already have admissions.

    We do not know their specific recommendation about NECO. The story we are all relying on published in the dailies last week quoted an unnamed source who did not give details about NECO.

    We know the Federal Government has debunked plans to scrap the bodies but whatever it decides to do with the two examining bodies, it should take into critical consideration the peculiar issues that define the Nigerian education system and our socio-economic challenges.

    Every year, millions of candidates write both examinations to earn ‘O’ Level qualifications and entrance points needed to gain entry into tertiary education. With the UTME costing an average of N5,000, it is quite an enormous amount that is not easy for the average Nigerian to cough out without prior planning. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that because a candidate spent the money, they would pass, and if they pass, they would be admitted. The competition is stiff – not because all the institutions have very high benchmark scores for their programmes, but because even if all of them were to admit qualified candidates, hundreds of thousands would still be without a space to study.

    What we need at this point is a system that does not task candidates and their sponsors unduly. There are many candidates who are frustrated having tried over and over again to gain admission into the tertiary institution. Their sponsors have lost confidence in them so they are forced to sponsor themselves. It is a good sign that we have many youths hungry for knowledge. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that they are directed to areas where their talents will be best harnessed for the good of the society. The present survival-of-the-fittest situation is not good and should be corrected.

    It does not necessarily mean that the UTME has to be scrapped to correct it. The examination could be modified. For instance, it could hold more than once in a year and have a longer life line – like two years as already been proposed.

    If the UTME is scrapped and tertiary institutions conduct their own examinations, how easy will it be for candidates to travel all over writing various examinations? Will it be more expensive than the present situation, where candidates pay for the UTME, result-checking scratch cards to get their results and afterwards pay post-UTME screenings fees of the institutions they chose if they passed? Will there be need for the institutions to set a timetable to avoid clashes that could reduce the chances of candidates if two institutions conduct their screening same day? All these questions should be answered with the aim of providing the candidates, our youths, with the best possible chance to develop themselves. It should not be our pride that things are extremely difficult. It does not pay us to have many young people idle, struggling to get trained, acquire skills and get jobs. The more people we can educate and empower, the better.

     

    Pregnant babies

    This week, the papers seem to be dominated by news of people selling babies for the wrong reasons. I first read of a man who sold his son to get a visa, then of two women who connived with nurses and sold their babies after delivery. But they did not move me like the story of a woman who ran a home where teenage girls bred babies for sale. She housed them, got men to impregnate them, then after delivery, sold the babies and gave them a percentage of the money.

    When I read the story, I wondered how girls could just exist to be breeding machines. Is pregnancy so easy to carry to term? But it is easy for teenagers to fall victim of such evil people because they are at a stage when they are not supposed to be pregnant. They would naturally not get the support of their families, or worse, the father of their babies, and, they would not have the financial muscle to fend for themselves and their babies. This makes them vulnerable.

    My advice to teenage girls is that they should be focused on their studies and empowerment for now. Parents and schools need to invest extra time and effort passing this message across so their future is not derailed.

     

  • What fate awaits UTME, NECO?

    What fate awaits UTME, NECO?

    Is it true? This has been the question on the lips of many since the news broke of the planned scrapping of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) by the Federal Government.

    The Stephen Oronsaye-led Presidential Committee on Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies recommended that 114 agencies, among them UTME and NECO, be abolished, merged or reverted to their parent ministries.

    According to the report, if UTME and NECO and others are scrapped, the government would save about N862 billion between 2012 and 2015 in operations cost.

    Media reports said after the abolition of UTME, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) would act as a clearing house for institutions which will conduct entrance examinations for candidates by ensuring standards and checking multiple admissions.

    Though the Minister of State for Education, Mr Nyesom Wike, has described the story as a rumour, saying there is no Whitepaper yet on the report, university administrators, parents, teachers, students, educationists and others are worried. They are anxious about the government implementing policies that could affect the education system.

    Many are divided on whether NECO, which conducts the National Common Entrance Examination and Basic Certificate Examination Junior Secondary School 3 (JSS3) for Federal Government Colleges and JAMB which coordinates the UTME should continue to function the way they do. While some say they should be scrapped, others recommend that their duties be modified to serve Nigerians better.

    When he chaired the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU), former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) Prof Is-haq Oloyede, advocated that universities be allowed to examine their students.

    He, however, argued that the UTME is still relevant. In a chat with The Nation on Tuesday, Oloyede said while universities should screen their intakes, UTME should serve as a first level screening to trim down the number of candidates.

    He said: “JAMB itself was created by the universities not by government and that was why the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin was the first chairman of the board of JAMB. Our position is not that there should be no qualifying national examination. Our position is the autonomy of the universities to screen their intakes. What we are saying is that there should be layers of screening. The national exam will first weed them out. If anyone does not pass the first examination, then he has no business with the second screening.”

    Oloyede faulted the non-release of the Oronsaye report, noting that if released, Nigerians would be able to advise the government better.

    “Unfortunately, if you don’t have facts about an issue you will just be commenting blindly. If that report was available on the internet, we would have known what the committee considered in reaching its conclusions and we would have been able to give informed comments which can help government reach more equitable decision,” he said.

    Rector of the Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu Dr A.A. Lawal urged the government not to scrap the two examining bodies.

    The bodies, he says, play an important role of conducting standardised examinations.

    “We strongly believe that JAMB and NECO have roles to play in standardising examinations, that is why we would not subscribe to those bodies being scrapped,” he said.

    Allowing institutions to conduct their own entrance examinations has some merit, according to Prof Ayo Olukoju, Vice-Chancellor of Caleb University, Imota, Lagos. He said under such regime, candidates would have more choices of institutions as they could take entrance examinations of many schools and be admitted to as many. Also it would be an advantage if they had to miss one because they could make it up with others, which is not possible with the UTME which holds once in a year.

    “The plus side is that the students have a number of more choices. If they are not chosen here they can be chosen elsewhere. Nigerian universities were able to whether the storm in the 70s when they conducted entrance examinations.”

    On the down side, he said the cost of admissions would be much more, since the process would be lengthier.

    He said: “The first reaction is to say that since there is no white paper on the issue, there is nothing definite yet. If there is no UTME, students will start travelling all over the country which would multiply cost. Also the admissions process will be protracted unduly as we would have to wait for all the institutions to conduct their examinations.”

    The high cost of admissions is one of the 10 reasons Mr Ike Onyechere, founding chairman of Exam Ethics Marshals International, headquartered in Abuja, says JAMB should be scrapped. In a letter to the Federal Government entitled: “Still on the need to scrap JAMB”, Onyechere said candidates spend as high as N136,000 on forms, travel expenses, lobbying and other sundry matters.

    The letter reads: “Exam Ethics Marshals International estimates the cost of seeking admission into Nigeria’s tertiary institutions at N136,000 per candidate on the average. This includes the cost of UTME and post-UTME forms, cost of scratch cards, cost of travelling and hotel accommodations, etc, etc. The convoluted UTME admission process opens parents and students up to all sorts of extortion rackets: payment for sighting of scripts and results, payment for change of admission letters, change of course letters, late admission letters. Extortion rackets associated with post-UTME include payment of fees for: ‘admission processing’; ‘accreditation’; ‘result reconciliation’; ‘clearance’; ‘opening of departmental and faculty files’ etc. In fact the cost can be as high as N500,000 depending on the course and the institution of choice e.g medicine and law.”

    While it costs a candidate so much to seek admission in Nigeria, in neighbouring Ghana, where universities conduct their own entrance examinations, Onyechere said it costs only N12,000, which is 20 times less.

    The Vice-Chancellor, Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun State, Prof Samson Adenola Ayanlaja, wonders why the controversy over the government’s plan. According to him, if the government which put up the parastatal decades ago now finds it irrelevant, then its action is justifiable.

    Ayanlaja recalled how JAMB came under fire in times past, saying: “Why did government propose its scrapping in the first place? It is because it was later found out that there is no correlation between students’ performances in UTME when placed side by side the post-UTME universities conducted to again ascertain students’ validity. So, if the panel set up by government which comprised responsible decision makers came to the conclusion that it (UTME) should be scrapped based on the information they had gathered, then I have no objection to that.”

    He said if UTME must be scrapped, tertiary institutions should be allowed to test-run the new measure to see how it works before anything is done.

    “Universities have been conducting post-UTME for some years now to reassess candidates’ validity and the results have been laudable. So, I don’t think the issue of whether they will abuse it (conducting qualifying exams) or not should not arise now. Let’s get to the bridge first before we cross it. If, in future, the process is abused, I believe all vice-chancellors will come together to make necessary amends.”

    Sixtus Charbel Esinulo, a student, whose sister is writing the Senior Secondary School Examination (SSCE), welcomed the idea of scrapping the UTME, saying it would enable students gain admission easily. He added that it will also make Nigeria meet international standards when it comes to admitting students into universities.

    “JAMB frustrates students too much. I pray that they keep to their word,” he said. There are other candidates who agree with him. Akomolafe Isaac, who is sitting for this month’s UTME, said it should be scrapped from the admission process because in the country of nations only Nigeria operates under a controlled admission board. He said scrapping UTME means there would be a decrease in special centres which makes students lazy.

    Another candidate, Endurance Adu, said he supports the scrapping of UTME because it does not help the admission process.

    “Some people have written JAMB so many times without success. Some of them become hopeless and even reject admission offers later in life because of their age. Some pass UTME and post-UTME but cannot get admitted without bribing the officials.” He said it would improve the rate of reading.

    A parent, Mr. Adewumi Bamigboye, believes that the UTME is a waste of money and time because of the post-UTME.

    His words: “UTME should be scrapped, I see it as a waste of money and time to parents and students. No matter the score of a student, the institution will still conduct its own entrance examination so what is the essence. I only pity the staff in UTME offices. UTME limit student’s ability to try many entrances into institution; once you pick an institution as your first choice and it fails that is the end for that year but this new introduction, applicants can try different institutions.”

    A teacher, Mr Oladunjoye Oluwagbemiga, said scrapping NECO and UTME will lead to other problems.

    “The two are established for a purpose. Can someone tell me their negative impact, though NECO needs to be re-organised. The two have created jobs for many, what will be the fate of the staff. If UTME is scrapped, the institutions will be too powerful, brilliant brains may not be given admission to favour the rich ones. UTME gives equal right to both the rich and the poor to be admitted,” he said.

    If at all anything should be scrapped, Dickson Aneke, coordinator, Apex Brilliant Academy, Isolo, said it should be the post-UTME, noting that the reasons given for scrapping of UTME are not genuine.

    “They said that the credibility of JAMB is under threat. If they leave the exam in the hands of the school, it will become too expensive. The post-UTME should be scrapped instead because they are not doing what it was created for,” he said.

    Another UTME candidate, Adekunle Michael, said if UTME is stopped, corruption will prevail. “Students wont need to read; they will just go to the school, bribe and get admitted,” he said.

    Like JAMB/UTME, NECO also has protagonists and antagonists. While some say it should continue to exist because it gives candidates a second chance if they fail the SSCE conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), others believe NECO should be scrapped because its certificate enjoys less patronage than that of WAEC.

    Bamigboye is for NECO’s retention because “it gives opportunity to students who did not perform well in WAEC to put in their best.”

    Prof Olukoju agrees, saying: “The rule of choice still applies. I support that NECO should be allowed to conduct examinations.

    Given that WAEC is a regional body, Prof Oloyede said NECO can serve Nigeria.

    Prof Oluwole Familoni of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) said while he is indifferent to the scrapping or not of NECO, the examining body should not continue to conduct the Basic Education examination since the certificate is not actually in demand.

    “At the JSS level, if you look at Lagos and some other states, they conduct the basic education examination. And then NECO does the same thing. What are they doing with the certificate? Nothing,” he said.

    Those calling for NECO’s scrapping do so because of concerns that the certificate is inferior to WAEC, though the examinations are the same.

    Samson Lucky, an SS3 pupil of Abesan Senior High School, Ipaja, a Lagos suburb, is one of those that think NECO is of no relevance.

    His words: “NECO should be scrapped, it is local unlike WAEC. We didn’t want to pay for the NECO form but we were forced to; it is not relevant, it is not recognised and it is unacceptable internationally. I want to study in Ghana after my SSCE so I can’t use NECO. WAEC is enough. If I’m allowed, I wouldn’t write NECO.”

    Regarding NECO, Onyechere questioned the veracity of the body’s statistics.

    He said: “In its 2000 and 2001 examinations, NECO announced a pass rate of 100 per cent. All candidates passed all the papers they entered in the two years. This was greeted with a national uproar because of the abnormality. In the June/July 2007 examinations, NECO announced that 987,395 candidates out of 1,015,561 that sat for the examinations passed. That is 97.2%. pass rate (Daily Trust, Friday, October 12, 2007). By November/December 2008, the pass rate declined to 27.74% (Daily Trust, March 24, 2009). In the June/July 2009 result, it further went down to 10.53% (The Punch Wednesday, October 7, 2009). And for November/December 2009, we came down to a pass rate of 1.80% (The Nation, March 17, 2010.) Note the steady decline in pass rates. From 100% in 2001 to 97.2% in June/July 2007 to 27.74% in Nov/Dec 2008 to 10.53% in June/July 2009 and then to 1.80% (almost zero) in Nov/Dec 2009. Is it possible for Nigeria to move from being a country of geniuses to being a country of complete idiots within a space of 10 years? Is cooking of pass statistics downwards NECO’s answer to rising public opinion that its examinations are “easier” and “cheaper” than that of WAEC?”

  • UTME: JAMB trains 166 coordinators

    UTME: JAMB trains 166 coordinators

    As part of its efforts to conduct a hitch-free Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) had a brain-storming meeting with over 166 coordinators for Computer Based Test (CBT) and Paper Pencil Test (PPT) scheduled for April 27 across the nation.

    The coordinators are senior and experienced staff drawn from 190 coordinating institutions of tertiary institutions across the country.

    The meeting was designed to keep the coordinators abreast of 2013 UTME features, its expectation and their roles towards ensuring the success of the examination.

    Declaring the training open, the JAMB Registrar Prof ‘Dibu Ojerinde said it would equip the coordinators with skills to reduce shortcomings in the conduct of the examination and familiarise them with the roles of the coordinators, supervisors, centre coordinators, assistant coordinators, invigilators, technical staff and attendants.

    “The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) experience has shown that result blackout, incomplete results and other seemingly problem occur as a result of certain shortcomings often discovered either on the part of the candidate or on the part of other stakeholders right from the stage of registration of candidates to the conduct of the examination. It is against this backdrop that the Board deems it necessary to conduct this training for her examination officials.”

    In his address, the Acting Director, Test Administration Department, Dr Yusuf Lawal commended the Registrar, whom he described as Mr. Innovation, for the various initiatives and achievements recorded since he came on Board as the helmsman.

    “Between 2007 when Prof ‘Dibu Ojerinde was appointed as the Registrar of JAMB and now, we have recorded a number of achievements too numerous to mention but it will not be out of place, because of its direct relevance to our activity of today to recall with some sense of satisfaction that Professor ‘Dibu Ojerinde introduced the UTME in 2010, on the heel of this we are here in 2013 celebrating the introduction of Computer Based Test (CBT).”

    He said the Computer Based Test (CBT) mode will be conducted alongside two other modes, that is, Dual Based Test (DBT) and the traditional Paper and Pencil Test (PPT). In the CBT mode, the deployment of question and responses would be on the computer while in the DBT the question will be deployed on the computer while responses would be on Optical Mark Readable (OMR) answer sheets; and the traditional PPT would be presented on paper and the responses will be on (OMR) answer sheets.

    However, from 2015, he said only the CBT mode would be used for the examination.

    “It would be most appropriate to re-emphasize that the transition period from PPT to CBT is three years lasting till 2015 when it is expected that all candidates for the Board’s Matriculation Examination will sit for the test electronically.”

     

  • 2013 UTME date remains unchanged- JAMB

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), on Wednesday restated its commitment to the conduct of a hitch-free 2013 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

    The reassurance was contained in a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the Board, Mr Fabian Benjamin and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

    The statement said that the reassurance became necessary in view of reports in some national dailies that the Federal Government may have cancelled UTME examination.

    It said that the board wished to state that as a responsible and responsive organisation, it was not averse to innovation, changes and government policies aimed at improvement in the education sector.

    The statement further reiterated that JAMB had not changed the date of the 2013 UTME for applicants seeking admission into the country’s various institutions of higher learning.

    It said that consequently, the board’s 2013 UTME, slated for April 27, would take place as scheduled.

    The statement further said that the date for the Computer Based Test (CBT) would be communicated to candidates soon.

    It also said that arrangements had been completed for the smooth conduct of the examination, as relevant stakeholders had been sensitised and properly briefed.

    According to the statement, the board has deployed all necessary logistics and materials to all designated centres, preparatory to the examination.

    It advised candidates to remain focused and be well equipped for the examination.(NAN)

  • Preparing for UTME in tears

    Preparing for UTME in tears

    In 15 days, registration for the 2013 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) will close, but many candidates may miss the examination coming up between April 15 and 27 due to no fault of theirs. Registering for the examination has been hectic. Where they were able to register, they did not get centres of their choice, they were sent to far-flung places to write the examination.

    The unavailability of centres for the Paper and Pencil Tests (PPT) option in almost all the states has thrown up a fresh challenge in the registration for the examination. All eyes are on the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to see how it will resolve the debacle which is giving many candidates and their parents sleepless.

    Candidates are being sent to states outside where they reside to write the examination. For now The Nation learnt, that there are no more centres in Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Cross River, Anambra, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau and Kogi states.

    Mr Olukayode Ademola, who runs Adetops Internet Services in Ladipo, Mushin, Lagos, said centres in Lagos got exhausted two weeks ago. Because of this, he said, he registered candidates for the examination in Yobe.

    “There was no centre in Lagos about two weeks ago. Sometime last week, the board released one centre in all states. The Lagos centre did not even last up to two hours before it was full. The Ogun State centre got filled up the next day; the others got filled up the day after remaining only Yobe State, which I registered for about three customers,” he said.

    A café operator in Ojo, Lagos, who simply introduced himself as Samson, said as at last week, applicants were still registering at centres in Lagos until this week when accessibility became difficult.

    “As I am talking to you now, there is no centre in Lagos again. We are hoping JAMB might open the Lagos centre, perhaps few days to the examination. ‘Even on (last) Saturday, some applicants who could not register in Lagos settled for Ogun and Oyo but as at now, it’s like centres in those states have been exhausted. I helped to register an applicant yesterday but she was able to find a centre to do the written examination in Edo State,” he said.

    Wale Olakinye of Cynosure Café, Jakande Estate, Lagos, also confirmed that all centres are full. “A candidate that came here yesterday had to pick Nasarawa. Her only saving grace is that she is from Benue. We found space at Bauchi and Nasarawa so she picked Nasarawa,” he said.

    A parent, who does not wish to be named, fumed that his son could not write in Lagos and blamed JAMB for selling forms when there are no centres. “I was surprised when they called me that they could not register my son because all the centres in Lagos are filled; that the only centre available is in Osun. How can he leave Lagos to travel all the way to Osun just to write JAMB?”

    In Plateau State, where candidates had only two places to register for the examination, PBT centres were filled weeks ago, according to a candidate, Ann Awulu. She said: “What JAMB did online was to delete names of states already filled and leave you with option of states where vacancy for centres exists but you are only advised to select states closer to you.”

    The story is not different in Anambra, Oyo and Rivers states.

    At the Search Field Consult, a cyber café in Diobu, Port Harcourt, the Manager, Mr Prince Okezie, said registration is now for the Computer Based Test (CBT).

    “Space for registration for manual UTME has long been filled in the state. We are now registering candidates for the e-method. Before now, however, we register them and send to other states like Bayelsa, Abia, and Delta, among others. But in the past few days, there have been no more spaces in these states but we learnt that the only available spaces now are in the North,” he said.

    A computer operator in Aroma in Awka, Anambra State, ifeoma Ezeigwe told The Nation on Tuesday that students now fill in centres in Kebbi, Benue, Nasarawa, Adamawa and Katsina states

    She said: “Students are going through hard times now on this Jamb issue. The entire Southeast is congested. The only state where there is vacancy is Benue but I believe that area has been filled up too.”

    Candidates in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital who prefer PPT option, are still hopeful of writing the examination in centres of thir choice.

    At some of the cyber cafe visited in Agbowo shopping complex, students were seen still registering for UTME in large numbers; others are opting to sit for the examination in other states.

    Candidates are complaining of the cost of travelling to other states to write the examination. Some have decided against writing this year, others are waiting with the hope that JAMB would still release some PPT centres before the March 15 registration deadline.

    “I am not happy, I don’t even know the place,” complained Miss Juliet Enang about being sent to a centre in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital when she lives in Calabar, Cross River State.

    She said she bought her form last month and filled Calabar as her examination location, but was given a centre in Uyo after she completed the online registration. She said officials at the JAMB office in Calabar told her that all the centres in Calabar are filled.

    She said: “I bought my form around January. I bought the form in Calabar but they gave me a centre in Akwa Ibom State. They just said the centre is filled. They sent me to the Air Force School in Ibesikpo Asutan. They say it is in Uyo main town.

    “This is giving more problems than I expected. I think I would go there before the examination to know the place. Then I have to find my way down there and I have to sleep there in Uyo on the day before the exam so I can make it, because if I say I would leave here on the exam day and I don’t even know the place, I may miss the exam and nobody would want to know the reason. I don’t know anybody in Uyo and that means I have to pay for a hotel to write JAMB. I have not even talked about the transport fare. So, you have to help yourself.”

    Candidates, who still desire to write the examination in states where they reside, have to choose the CBT option because the PPT and event the dual mode of paper and computer (Dual Based Test – DBT) are no longer available.

    Last November, JAMB flagged off the CBT option in Abuja, with its Registrar, Prof Dibu Ojerinde saying the 2013 UTME would be the pilot year to test-run the use of computers in writing the exam. He said from 2015 the examination would only be taken online.

    The board has accredited centres with Information Communication Technology (ICT) facilities that met its standard in all states of the federation where candidates who select the CBT option would take the examination. These centres are more in number in well-developed cities than in the hinterland. The board’s plan is for candidates taking the CBT option to write the examination between April 15 and 27 – according to the schedule they are given. The majority writing through the conventional PPT will write on April 27.

    Before the PPT centres got filled up, cyber café operators interviewed by The Nation said many candidates shunned the CBT option because they are not computer literate, and fears that things may go wrong and their results would be lost.

    JAMB allays their fears, saying the level of computer literacy needed to write the CBT requires the candidate to be able to use the mouse to click the correct answer or the keyboard to enter the correct option.

    No matter, some candidates have decided to go for training; others are willing to wait until next year to write the PPT.

    At De Masters Concept in Mile 3 Diobu, Port Harcourt, the operator, simply identified as Elvis, said: “prior to the completion of Rivers State space two weeks ago, no candidate opted the e-testing, but after the closure, most of them are accepting the method with visible reluctance.”

    Rather than choose the CBT option and write in Lagos, a candidate, simply called Jide, chose to travel to Esa-Oke to write the PPT. He said his reluctance for the CBT lies in the fact that whatever JAMB does for the first time always suffers teething problems.

    He said: “Do you remember that when JAMB started the UTME three years ago, many candidates had problems? But it was the students who paid for it and not JAMB. Now they (JAMB) are introducing ‘computer examination’ to it again. If along the line there are big mistakes, it is we applicants that will pay heavily for it and not them. That is why I opted to write in Esa Oke since there in no more centres in Lagos.”

    Auwalu Umar, a prospective candidate in Kano, who opted out of the examination, cited the CBT as his reason. He said he has no knowledge of computer and would not want to spend his money on “try your luck”

    “I will rather wait for next examination year; before then, I must have gone for computer training and would have been well-equipped to sit for the examination. My dreams of going to the university cannot be dimmed just for one year,” he said.

    But Miss Cynthia Bukola Fanaiye, another Kano resident, is not ready to wait that long. She has registered for the CBT and is now going for computer training.

    She said: “I have no option than to register because for me, one year is a long long time and too precious to waste. What I have decided to do is to go for computer training, while I prepare for the exam. With God on my side, I believe I can make it.”

    A café operator in Navy Town, Ojo, Bakare Surajudeen Lekan, said candidates are also afraid of the CBT. “There are no centres around again because people are not choosing the computer based exam. No shading again. They are travelling to other states to use the pencil and paper based even to the North especially Kebbi. They are scared of writing the exam with computer. People are no longer registering; they are waiting to see if JAMB will open pencil and paper again.”

    A candidate, Mosunlola Olurotimi, looked dejected as she registered for the CBT option at Kay Educational Consult, Agbowo, Ibadan. She said she was scared of the CBT exam and anxious about how the questions will be set and what duration the time to be alloted for each subject.

    In an interview, JAMB Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Fabian Benjamin said more candidates than estimated have registered for the examination. He put the figure at 1.3 million. (Last year, 1,503,931 candidates wrote the examination.) He also said about 40,000 candidates have registered to write the CBT, while another 40,000 chose the DBT.

    He added that the board would not extend the March 15 dead line, adding that there are no plans to release special centres as some people are insinuating.

    “The March 15 deadline for registration is sacrosanct. The CBT starts April 15 until 27. The paper and pencil test will hold on April 27. We have more than the estimated number of candidates registered for this year’s examination. But there is nothing like special centre this year. JAMB is not releasing more centres,” he said.

    He had said the same thing in an earlier interview, “We cannot just increase the number of centres because the candidates are more than the number we anticipated for the examination. Before we accredit a centre for the examination, they have to meet some requirements. Candidates that cannot find centres can register for the CBT. There are centres available in Lagos and elsewhere.”

  • UTME candidates lament over unavailable centres

    UTME candidates lament over unavailable centres

    Candidates trying to register for the 2013 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) holding in April are in a dilemma over the unavailability of centres in their states of residence.

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) website is directing them to other states with available centres where they can take the conventional Paper Based Test (PBT).

    There is no space in the centres in nearby states and candidates are being told they may travel to as far as Jigawa, Sokoto or Maiduguri to write the examination.

    One candidate living in Lagos complained about being sent to Nasarawa, while another could not even register in Osogbo after initial complaint that it is too far.

    An operator of a JAMB-accredited cyber café in Agege area of Lagos said some centres seemed to have been reopened after being declared full for days.

    “Two weeks ago when we registered some people, there was no centre in Lagos and candidates had to choose Ogbomoso (in Oyo State). But three days ago when we checked, we saw available centres in Ikeja East and they allocated the two people schools in Maryland,” he said.

    JAMB spokesman, Mr. Fabian Benjamin, said those who cannot get centres for the PBT or the dual mode (Paper and Computer Based Test) can choose the Computer Based Test (CBT).

    He said the board cannot immediately increase the number of centres for the PBT because of its stringent accreditation requirements.

    “We cannot just increase the number of centres because the candidates are more than what we anticipated for the examination. Before we accredit a centre for the examination, they have to meet some requirements. Candidates that cannot find centres can register for the CBT. There are centres in Lagos and elsewhere,” he said.

    Checks by The Nation showed that the CBT is now the only option for candidates, who are just registering. Before now, many cyber café operators said most candidates preferred the PBT over the CBT, which was introduced by JAMB as a pilot this year.

     

     

  • UTME candidates to write computer- based test

    UTME candidates to write computer- based test

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Thursday launched Computer Based Testing (CBT) for candidates sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME).

    Launching the new initiative in Abuja, the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, said it was one of the transformative efforts of the government toward revamping the education sector.

    “There are two major objectives of this initiative. First, it is aimed at advancing the nation technologically and the second and the more important goal is to reduce or completely eliminate exam malpractice,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the minister as saying at the launching.

    She said it was a gradual introduction as candidates had two options where they could choose between the CBT, Paper-Pencil Test (PPT) and Dual Computer-Paper Test (DCPT).

    The minister said the new system offered candidates the opportunity to get immediate feedback, get more secured and fair results in line with global best practice.

    She said the other two options, PPT and DCPT, would be open from 2013 to 2015 by the end of which it was expected that all candidates for UTME would be computer literate.

    Prof. Rufa’i said that only purely computer based examinations would be taken by JAMB candidates and expressed the hope that other examination bodies would toe the line of JAMB.

    Announcing the plans, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, said a mass campaign had been lined up to enable stakeholders to understand the advantages of using the system.

    Ojerinde said CBT was conceived out of necessity to address issues that had continued to affect the successful conduct of examinations.

     

  • Post-UTME candidates praise Elizade Varsity

    Candidates for the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) of Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, have praised the quality of facilities the institution has put in place for the commencement of academic activities.

    Speaking on what informed their choice of Elizade at a forum after the computer-based test, they compared the structures to those in foreign countries.

    The candidates also praised the organisation of the examination especially the transition between the electronic test and the oral interview.

    The university boasts of standard laboratory equipment, internet facilities, water, and uninterrupted power supply all in a serene environment.

    The candidates appealed to the university management to conduct another examination so as to give other candidates the opportunity of coming to the university.

    A parent whose son wrote the test, Mr Lafe Ogunjuyigbe said he came along to confirm what he had seen in pictures.

    He, however, appealed to the Management to prioritise moral development of the students in its pursuit of academic excellence.

    In her remarks, the Senior Assistant Registrar, Elizade University, Mrs. Dele Ajomale, promised that the university would make the post-UTME a continuous exercise until the closure of admissions by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), so as to give more candidates the opportunity of studying in the university.

    She expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the candidates, adding that they have demonstrated the quality the university craves to see in its students.