Candidates cry out as JAMB releases partial results

JAMB Registrar and Chief Executive, 

Prof. Dibu Ojerinde

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board has confirmed that 97,400 candidates who sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination on Tuesday already have their results.

The JAMB Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, made this known on Wednesday while monitoring the exercise in Abuja.

According to the registrar, the candidates received their results via the Short Message Service less than 24 hours after sitting for the examination.

His claim came as many candidates in some Lagos centres complained of delay and server failure during the examination.

At the Idimu College of Professional Studies, Egbeda, many of the first set of candidates were not able to sit for the test on Tuesday.

The candidates, who arrived the centre as early as 6am, hoping to undergo screening before 8am were disappointed with the malfunctioning of the Internet server.

Many candidates at the Universal White Hall College, Iju were still writing their examination as of 8pm on Wednesday.

One of our correspondents gathered that the network failure occurred in the middle of the examination.

Also, in one of the Lagos designated centres, the Bafuto Computer and Secretarial School, Egbe, on Tuesday, the first batch of candidates billed for the examination did not start until about 8.25am.

Besides, many of the candidates complained that they experienced technical hitches at the beginning of the test.

For instance, Master Benedict Ameh, who sat for the examination at the centre, attributed the initial delay to a technical hitch.

The youngster, who, said that he was conversant with desktop operations, noted that he found the whole exercise interesting.

Another candidate, Miss Chinasa Egbuebe, linked the delay to a system failure.

At the Chams City, Ikeja, the examination also did not start by 8am.

Meanwhile, Ojerinde, who monitored the conduct of the examination at JAMB’s CBT Centre, Bwari in the FCT, cited security challenges and high cost of producing writing materials hitherto used for Paper Pencil Test, as well as transporting the materials, as some of the reasons why the examination body settled for CBT.

He said, “Normally for candidates to receive their results, it should not take more than two hours but as of Tuesday, which was the first day of the examination, about 97,400 candidates got their results before the end of the day.

“In the final analysis, it is cost effective. The process is going to be cheaper with time, but now it is capital intensive. Once we have all the computer systems, in the next 10 to 15 years, nobody would be complaining.

“In security-prone areas, of course, we got a report from Yobe State that the examination is going on smoothly. It is the same for Yola in Adamawa State and Maiduguri in Borno State. However, if we had limited ourselves, using pick-ups vans carrying things up and down, we would have been in trouble. They will be following us as if we are carrying money. Now, the questions go straight into the centre portal system and nobody knows when it gets in or out.”

The Chairman, Board of JAMB, Mr. Peter Eze, who also monitored exercise, said it recorded 90 per cent success.

According to him, the March 28 and April 11 general elections affected preparations for the examination and made JAMB to fix it within 14 days before the elections.

In Abuja, a candidate, Aisha Bashiru, said, “The new examination method has forced candidates to be computer literate. The system is faster and I can tell you that before now, many of us do not know how to operate a system. But with the CBT, we have no choice but to learn it as fast as possible since there is no alternative means of writing the exams.”

According to another candidate, Chidinma Ukegbu, although the system is faster, there is need for improvement in subsequent examinations.

“The new system is faster and effective for anybody who is conversant with computer. Any candidate, who knows what he is doing can finish the examination on time and expect the results within 24 hours. But there is the need to improve on the Internet provision.” she stated.

No fewer than 1.4million candidates are sitting for the examination, which commenced in more than 400 centres and in seven overseas countries. The examination is to last for 10 days.