UTME candidates denied entrance to exam hall over lateness

y Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

Officials at the Global Distance Learning Centre, Abuja Tuesday denied some candidates sitting for the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination access into the examination hall.

The officials noted that the candidates arrived late at the Computer-Based Test centre located at the Central Business District, opposite Federal Ministry of Finance.

They were scheduled to take the examination between 7am to 9am session.

Over 10 of the candidates, who arrived the centre with their parents, were told that they would have to wait till the 2021 examination, after they were told they arrived late at the venue.

Some parents of the candidates, however, explained that the CBT centre address on their examination slips were not clear as they read, “Abuja, Minna, Suleja, Niger State” and other examination towns.

The affected candidates and their parents crowded the gate when the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono and Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede visited the centre.

The permanent secretary and JAMB registrar were at the centre to monitor the exercise on Tuesday.

A parent, who did not want his name in print to avoid intimidation, said: “My daughter and I arrived late because JAMB provided multiple addresses on the printed slip. They put several examination towns there and this was confusing. I did not know this Global Learning centre before and locating it here was difficult.

“How is it possible to deliberately come late if the examination slip was straightforward? Is this the first examination we are bringing children? Why did JAMB provide multiple examination towns in the slip?”

The candidates were not willing to have their names in print in the hope that the board could consider them for another session.

JAMB Head of Media and Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin, who was at the centre to monitor the exercise, told reporters that the examination could not be rescheduled as the candidates came late and missed the examination.

Dr. Benjamin noted that the candidates mistook their examination centre for examination towns provided only as a guide.

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

In an interview, Echono told reporters that he was satisfied with the general conduct of the examination so far.

He noted that the smooth conduct of the exercise showed that efficiency had been established.

The permanent secretary said: “We have gotten 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; candidates are also adjusting to the CBT 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, digitising 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 examination.” (The Nation)