By Grace Edema
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has apologised for the challenges candidates witnessed on Thursday during the Mock-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
On Thursday, parents of mock-UTME candidates and candidates complained bitterly over the anguish they experienced in accessing the JAMB portal at various Computer Based Test Centres.
Some candidates narrated that the first batch of the examination was slated for 7 am but didn’t start until 12 noon, 2 pm, and thereabout while some couldn’t access the portal at all.
A parent, Mrs Nneka Chigozie who lives in Magboro, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, took her daughter to Peakan International CBT centre, Ikenne, for the 7 am batch, revealed that candidates had access to the portal at 4.30 pm.
She narrated, “We left Magboro at 5.30 am so as to meet up with the 7 am batch for Mock-UTME, however, till 4.30 pm they couldn’t have access to the JAMB network. I am very tired. We are not ready to make things work in this country.”
However, in a statement signed by JAMB, it appealed to candidates and the general public for their understanding, saying it would not relent in its efforts to devise new and better ways of enhancing the quality of large-scale assessments in Nigeria.
“The Board would want to use this opportunity to apologise to all candidates for any inconvenience they might have experienced on account of this. This is part of a development process aimed at enhancing the Board’s efforts at improving the quality, security, and sanctity of its services and as well as using the same to herald the next phase of its transformational agenda.
“As previously anticipated, the exercise witnessed some hitches in a few centres with some candidates unable to sit the examination. These candidates will be rescheduled to sit the examination at a date to be announced later at no cost to them.
“The Board would look at all issues thrown up by the mock exercise and act accordingly for a better and enhanced exercise.”
It added that the introduction of the Mock-UTME by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board was aimed at providing the Board with the opportunity to assess innovations that would be used for the main examination as well as allow candidates to have hands-on experiences in the CBT environment.
Source: The Punch
