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…25 candidates affected in Abuja cry profusely

…Parents blame board, say it confused candidates with multiple addresses

By Joseph Erunke

SOME candidates who registered to write the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, yesterday failed in their bid to participate in the exercise because they arrived late to their venues.

The candidates, who were scheduled to write the examination at the Global Distance Learning Programme Institute, opposite the Ministry of Finance, Central Business District, Abuja, were barred from entering the examination hall for arriving some minutes late. The development caused tension as both parents and the affected candidates engaged security men  deployed at the centre for taking the action.

The tension was doused when the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education,Sonny Echono, accompanied by JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, and some officials of board arrived to monitor the exercise.

The protesting parents and candidates were asked to wait for the government officials to carry out their assignment.

But they could no longer hold their patience when Echono and his team left without addressing their problems as they burst into tears, weeping inconsolably. The affected candidates told UTMEOFFICIAL.COM that they arrived late because JAMB provided multiple addresses in their printed slips.

They said the multiplicity of examination towns provided by JAMB caused them to find their examination centre difficult to locate. The students said they had gone to Suleja and Madalla, both in Niger State as early as 4 am and were unable to locate the Global Distance Learnig Institute which was indicated in their printed slips as their examination centre.

READ ALSO: UTME candidates can print examination slips — JAMB

The candidates said they were re-directed to a centre in Abuja municipal area for the examination that was billed to start at 7:00am. “It is the fault of JAMB and not candidates. JAMB provided multiple examination towns. This action confused these candidates because there was no clear- cut examination centre,” a parent of one of the candidates said as her daughter wept inconsolably. Reacting to the development, JAMB’s Head of Media, Dr Fabian Benjamin, denied that the agency committed any wrong.

Fabian, who said JAMB doesn’t condone lateness, added that the candidates who missed their scheduled examination would not be rescheduled as, according to him, their questions which were individually programmed have returned to the source.

According to him, the affected candidates mistook examination centres for examination towns. He explained that instead of going to their examination centres, the candidates went to examination town chosen by the board to guide them on the limitation of the area their examination centres were restricted to.

He said though the examination had been hitch-free, there were, however, challenges in some areas he did not indicate.

“There are no centres where you won’t have any challenges at all.  In one of the centres, they had challenges and couldn’t write exams and we rescheduled them to take their examinations today.

“We have set machineries in motion to address such challenges when they occur. The important thing is there are processes to address those challenges when they come, we have been addressing them.

“For every candidate who registered for this examination,we are sure except if that candidate decided not to come,” he said.

Dr. Benjamin added that there were issues of few biometrics and local area network because some cables were not trunked properly.

“When candidates step on it, they could be fractured and we are addressing them,” he stated further.

Meanwhile, the federal government said yesterday it was satisfied with the general conduct of the examination.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Sony Echono, said the smooth conduct of the exercise showed that efficiency had been established.

“We have got a good hand on it, efficiency has been established and we are improving on it each time.

“This year, we had some innovations; even at the point to take your exams, we take your biometrics and it is the only basis with which even your questions can be activated on our computer.”

“Everything is moving smoothly, candidate are also adjusting to the CBT test system, we are proud to have Professor Oloyede who, with his integrity and commitment, has given this to us.

“The added advantage of this is that we are transforming our education sector, digitizing our educational curriculum and that is what we want to show Nigerians.

“We had minimal hitches nationwide and we programmed it in such a manner that the students are able to access this examinations.

“This is an effective mode and our universities are beginning to participate in the process because we all are seeing what is done and gradually we will do away with some of the other supplementary procedures that they do,” Echono said.

UTMEOFFICIAL.COM