By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Mass failure in this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) was caused by the lack of good preparation by candidates, according to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), which kept mum on other hitches.
It is known, however, other disruptive factors that contributed to the poor performance, which JAMB did not mention, included confusion about registration with National Identity Number (NIN) and shifts in examination dates.
Besides, in the run up to the exam, 24 Computer-Based Examination Centres (CBT) were delisted which led to candidates having to reregister in other CBTs – all of this eating into their study time.
JAMB asked candidates posted to the delisted centres to wait for further directives by checking their profile, email address, and SMS on their registered phone numbers for a new date.
The delisted centres were spread across 11 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Lagos had the highest number of six centres. Other states affected included Kaduna, Edo, Ondo, Plateau, FCT, Oyo, Osun, Delta, Benue, Imo and Nasarawa.
In the 2021 UTME, 1,415,501 registered for both UTME and Direct Entry (DE). Out of this number, 1,340,003 registered for UTME and 75,498 for DE.
A total 1,300,722 candidates wrote the UTE, with 78,389 absent.
Per The Guardian (Nigeria), when the result of the examination was announced, some candidates blamed their poor grades on being given the wrong syllabus by JAMB.
But JAMB Public Affairs and Protocol Head, Fabian Benjamin, countered that “all … UTME questions are based on texts prescribed for the UTME in its syllabus.”
He added: “The Board ordinarily would not have reacted to the half-truth being peddled by some disgruntled candidates, who were ill-prepared for the examination and who, true to all expectations, performed below the expectations of their guardians, that the Board had based its questions on the wrong syllabus.”
According to Benjamin, to ensure that its syllabus was accessible to all candidates sitting its examination, JAMB made the material available on three platforms:
· JAMB Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System (IBASS)
· A CD given to candidates after completion of registration
· Link https://www.ibass.jamb.gov.ng provided with candidates’ profile code.
