By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Outcry by educationists and parents over candidates’ poor performance in the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) has been dismissed by Ishaq Oloyede as exaggerated and misplaced.
Oloyede, a professor and Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, also poured cold water on the demand for JAMB to re-mark or re-do this year’s UTME.
He insisted that although UTME is not an achievement test but a ranking test for grading candidates for equitable admission into tertiary institutions, the government and stakeholders should assess the facilities for preparing candidates.
He made the point at the foundation laying ceremony of JAMB’s International Talent Resort Centre (ITRC), Alarape, Osun State, where he said JAMB has won the war against examination malpractices, and blackmail would not deter it from ridding the education system of fraud, according to Vanguard.
Oloyede said “the future of our country depends on how far we can go to improve on the standard of education. The recent uproar on the exaggerated poor performance of candidates who sat for the 2021 UTME is misplaced.
“Nevertheless, the 2021 UTME result offers the opportunity to all of us to interrogate the quality of preparation of and facilities for candidates into the tertiary education system in Nigeria.
“Many may not have noticed that shortly before the commencement of 2021 UTME, a cartel published a fake digital past UTME Question Papers and was circulating fake questions and answers claiming to be genuinely from JAMB.
“Many parents who fell for the scam must have now realised how wrong they and their not so innocent children were.
“This explains why many students had to collapse in the examination hall when reality stared them in the face.
“This is a lesson for people to realise that the days of examination malpractice in JAMB conducted examinations is over and over forever.”
Danger posed by fraudulent IJMB, JUPEB centres
Oloyede counselled tertiary institutions to fish out examination fraudsters parading themselves as tutorial masters in charge of the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) and Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board (JUPEB).
He reiterated his earlier warning that fake IJMB and JUPEB centres are destroying the education system.
He had alleged previously that some certificates awarded by IJMB and JUPEB) centres for Direct Entry into universities are fake.
IJMB is a government programme for post-secondary school Advanced Level that runs for nine months, moderated by Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. It facilitates admission into tertiary institutions through Direct Entry to 200 level.
JUPEB is a national examination body approved by the government in December 2013. It was formally established in April 2014 by a consortium of 10 universities led by the University of Lagos (UNILAG).
“It is high time, the government, particularly state governments, paid sufficient attention to combating the highly organised gang of examination fraudsters,” Oloyede stressed.
“In almost every city of the nation [they] operate under the guise of tutorial classes in largely uncompleted dilapidated buildings with unqualified tutors and proprietors whose expertise is forging A/level qualifications and corrupting the education system.
“A recent experiment by Bayero University, Kano shows that as high as 96 per cent of the A/Level results being churned out (courtesy of these tutorial centers) are fake.
“The states and security agencies, therefore, need to pay sufficient attention to the fast-expanding illicit education gangsters.
“Tertiary institutions also need to – pay particular attention to the fact that these examination fraudsters parading themselves as tutorial masters are infiltrating vastly and deeply into the institutions – IJMB and JUPEB units – wreaking untold havoc on the education system.”
He disclosed that the first phase of the Talent Resort Centre comprises an office and a Computer Based Test (CBT) centre that seats 500 candidates.
“This International Talent Resort is programmed to be an integrated ultra-modern educational facility to serve all researchers, particularly those engaged in various academic services of the Board.”
Osun Stage Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Wole Oyebamiji, said the center adds another feather to the many garlands that have rightfully characterised Oloyede’s leadership in JAMB.
He assured JAMB of an environment of tranquility that facilitates both intellectual and relaxation adventure, adding that Osun is one of the states that have most electricity supply in the country.
