The Registrar, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, Tuesday hinted that the body would soon commence the sale of the application form for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination(UTME).
Oloyede said an estimated 1.7 million candidates are expected register and sit for the Computer Based Test (CBT) across the country, adding that they are also increasing the capacity of the CBT centres to maximise their effectiveness to examine more candidates within a given date.
The Chief Executive Officer of JAMB made this known at the Green Legacy, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, while fielding questions from journalists shortly after a meeting of the JAMB officials and other stakeholders regarding the new Information Technology being introduced into the system to make it less stressful to candidates.
According to him, the body is working with the possibility of conducting a “mock examination” not only to test its preparedness with the new technology, but also to examine some people that are desirous of knowing their competence with the JAMB examination.
He noted that stakeholders meeting was predicated on the need for people to make inputs into the new ICT facilities and critique it before putting them into use.
Oloyede said Nigeria is ripe for an ICT – driven examinations, disclosing that the innovation would definitely unsettle some people, who hitherto were short-changing JAMB through “fraud” and in some cases, duplication of PIN.
“What we are doing appears to be suitable to majority of our stakeholders. It is a surprise to us that we are apprehensive of what we wanted to do that maybe we are going to create problem. We are more confident to go along with the sale of the form for 2017 UTME examination.
“I believed that Nigeria is ripe for this. Nigeria is more advanced than some of these countries. At least, we have three or four countries that are observing our examination and they want to go the way of the conduct of the examination.
“We are expecting 1.7 million candidates and we want to make sure we satisfy these candidates within a week or there about. That is why we are increasing the capacity of the Computer Based Test centres to be able to examine more candidates within a given date
“If we are talking about 1.5 million candidates, it means that in a given day about 60,000 or 70,000 candidates will take the examination.
“We have invited stakeholders to critique the process because we don’t want to go in the wrong direction. We are creating some ICT facilities and we want our stakeholders, prospective candidates, respected scholars, institutions, civil societies to come together and critique what we are doing, so that we can be sure, before we go too far in a wrong direction.
“This is with a view of harvesting good ideas that could improve what we are doing. We thought we are coming here to get dismantled, all we have put together, but what we are having are cheers that we can do it this way, or amend it that way.
“I must be frank with you, I cannot promise hitch free examination because we are testing certain things. We are changing certain things. We want to question the status quo and of course, we expect a fight back by interest that will be trampled upon.
“We are going to be as sincere as possible in the direction we are going. We are going to be as flexible as humanly possible. We are not promising hitch free examination.
“We envisaged that there will be hitches here and there, but they will not be insurmountable. Rather than promising the nation hitch free examination, we will be promising a direction we will all be pleased with.
“Initially there might be hiccups and of course one would not have been appointed if it is routine. I believe that I have been given a very difficult job and that is why I’m promising that it will be all smooth,” Oloyede said.
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