The Joint Action Coalition on Education (JACE) on Sunday gave its assessment of the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) organised by Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB).
The Computer Based Test, CBT, kicked off yesterday and will last one week across the country.
Recall that JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, in an update to newsmen, said that the exercise recorded huge success in some places on the first day, while there were some hitches in few other places due to certain peculiar reasons.
In a statement made available to DAILY POSY on Sunday, Ayokunle Adumashin, JACE South West zonal co-ordinator, recalled the issues that cropped up during the 2017 registration and the events that led to the postponement of the Mock Examination.
He said: “The experience with the registration and the subsequent conduct of the Mock Examination came in useful as we had cause to return to the drawing board to fine tune our strategies for monitoring the UTME.
”That singular exercise revealed logistics gaps that we had taken for granted and thankfully we were able to make improvements before the main examination date.
”JACE, through its membership, was able to deploy monitors in each of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.
”Our observers monitored the examination for incidents, compliance with global standards in the handling of examinations, and provision of conducive environment.
”From our observations: The examination was orderly and met set standards in all in the centres monitored by our coalition. The few incidents recorded, were largely issues pertaining to human factor and not caused by systems or process.
”The Mock Examination earlier conducted by JAMB proved useful in exposing candidates to what to expect in the actual examination. This is an initiative that should be sustained.
”The examination showed the imperative for continued investment in broadband penetration and stability in addition to improving on power supply situation in the country. The suggested improvements would totally eliminate the few glitches recorded.
”Secondary schools should improve on exposing students to ICT so that the country can get to a stage where candidates do not experience cyberphobia or fear of computers or technology at such critical time in their life.
”Parents must on their part spare no efforts to ensure they have familiarized their children with contemporary technology and trends before they complete secondary school as this will minimize the potentials for the children struggling with technophobia at decisive points in their lives.
”The provision for special needs candidates is commendable. We however urge the Board not to relent in innovating to further make the process pleasant for such candidates.
”The adoption of Computer Based Test has further reduced the incidence of malpractices with the prospect that we will be talking about its complete elimination in future examination.
”The installation of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras at the examination centres further contributed to reducing the incidence of malpractices and also complemented security arrangement for the centres”.
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