Examinations in Nigeria are often characterised by many problems ranging from poor organisation to malpractices. Unfortunately, many of these have not been curtailed even with the introduction of some techniques.
However, in the midst of this, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has been a fairly dynamic examination body in the country over the years. In the last five years, it has introduced various measures to address the issues.
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Despite these, the 2022 Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination (UTME) was one with peculiar challenges for candidates and more excuses from the board. After the examination, results were delayed for days and candidates were unduly traumatised by this and the shoddy conduct of the exercise.
Parents were also jolted by JAMB’s official statement explaining why results had not been released.
Instead of the board addressing some core challenges faced by a good number of candidates during the examination, it was busy emphasising its success in stopping exam malpractice and how culprits would be handled; while perennial hitches remain unresolved.
Apart from technical challenges encountered at some centres, many candidates had agonising moments with English questions. Some candidates complained that they were given a comprehension passage with wrong corresponding options and when they complained they were advised to choose any option.
That was in addition to questions without instructions or correct options, especially, questions on stressed syllables.
Similar issues were also prevalent in the mock exam earlier conducted by the board.
Since the board was quick to debunk claims by alleged fraudsters who were making false claims of errors in the scoring of candidates in the 2022 Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination (UTME), it should have responded to the claims of those candidates who had issues with their English paper.
How does JAMB score candidates with errors in their questions? What should candidates do when errors are noticed in their question type? When will JAMB make its previous questions and answers accessible to the public if the ones in circulation are not authorized? How will subsequent UTME results be released in a day since it is computer-based? We are waiting for answers.
Uthman Qasim, Abuja [email protected].
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