[Opinion] JAMB Should Review Its Computer Based Policy

From all indications the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is not ready for the computer-based test (CBT) it introduced.

Apart from many students being unfamiliar with the use of the computer system, those who manage to know left and right click faced one problem or the other, some systems went off before the time while some got wrong subjects combinations.

Students complained that the computers are not ready, they are not well programmed for the CBT and some even do not save entered answers automatically.

Another case for which I am witness is a centre where a candidate had to use almost four to five computers before he could finish, this happened as a result of continous automatic shut down of the systems, and in most cases some answers were lost or time expires before you finish.

This is unfortunate and sad. It is a clear indication that there will be mass failure if proper care is not taken by Professor Jibu Ojerinde, the JAMB registrar.



Moreover, apart from the aforementioned technical problems, there is no punctuality in almost all CBT centres across the country, when it started on Monday, March 9, 2015.
Those who should have commenced by 6am could not start until 10am, just as those slated for 10am could not start till 2pm. And the moment a candidate spent one and half hours, the computer stopped even though the duration of the test was three hours, thirty minutes. There is even centre in Malumfashi Katsina state, where candidates are stranded up to 5pm, before they could start, to sum it up, when they finished it was already 9pm.

The use of Computers to conduct public examinations is really of immense important, as it reduces examination malpractices to the barest minimum and instill assurance for fair making of scripts, but Nigeria have not grown to that level especially when one looks at the deteriorating level of our electricity, perhaps that is why most centres conduct the exam with generators. I am perplexed what kind of development is this.
Conclusively, I will like to draw the attention of Federal ministry of education and Joint Admission and Matriculation Board to come to the rescue of students.

The better system will be that used in last year’s UTME; that is both Computer-Based Test (CBT) and Paper and Pencil Test (PPT) where candidate have opportunity to choose his/her most preferred method. This without doubt will help many candidates.

Written by Ammar Abdulhamid (100 level Biological Science student, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria)