JAMB 2014: A must-read. In 2011, 2,892 candidates scored above 300 in the Unified Tertiary...

JAMB 2014: A must-read.
In 2011, 2,892 candidates scored above 300 in
the Unified Tertiary Matriculation
Examinations, UTME. In a sad turn of events,
the performance has nosedived drastically
since then; only three candidates scored 300
and above in 2012 with the number increasing
slightly to 10 in 2013.
Although, the Computer-Based Test, CBT is still
ongoing, the recently released results of
candidates who wrote the Paper Pencil Test,
PPT and a percentage of those who wrote the
CBT, is worrisome.
Compared to the 33,753 candidates who
scored above 250 marks in 2013 based on
available data, only 47 scored above 250 this
year.
In 2012, there were 72, 243 of such students.
In the light of these alarming figures, one
question begs to be answered: Who is
responsible for this mass failure? Is the Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, the
body responsible for conducting the UTME? Is
it the failing education system? Lazy students?
Non-committed teachers? Vanguard Learning
spoke to the different stakeholders, and they
all had different views about the situation.
A candidate in this yearâ€™s UTME who did not
want her name in print, was not too happy
when she checked her UTME results. One of
the 115, 456 candidates who scored between
160-169 marks in the last exams, she said: â€œI
donâ€™t know what happened. I studied hard and
did my best during the examinations. I make
sure I didnâ€™t cheat, but in spite of all that, my
result still came out like this.â€
Mr. Mark Okoh, the Principal of Caro College
in Lagos, told our reporters in a phone
interview that only JAMB can truly answer the
questions as to why students failed.
â€œJAMB is the umpire in this situation,â€ he said
â€œit is JAMB that sets the questions and marks
the scripts. In conducting an examination,
there are rules to be followed. If the
candidates follow these rules, then there
shouldnâ€™t be much of a problem. But if
students are not aware of the rules they are
being judged by, then, that is not fair conduct
of examinations. For example, The West
African Examination Council, WAEC, gives
students an idea of what to expect from the
examination, but JAMB doesnâ€™t do that. No
wonder students are confused.â€
The JAMB boss, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, however,
refuted claims that JAMB is not clear on its
criteria for judging studentsâ€™ performance. â€œWe
are professionals,â€ he said, â€œwe know what we
are doing and we have always been clear about
it. It is just that a lot of times, candidates do
not listen. They rely on stuff they find on the
internet.
This year, because we wanted to promote
reading culture in the country, we prescribed
two books for all the students to read. But a
lot of them did not touch it. How can they
pass? Fifty questions came from those books
alone. Instead they depended on the internet
to give them fake information, and imputed
such information when they came into the
examination hall.
All is not lost, and we cannot conclude yet;
there are still quite a number of candidates
who have not yet done the CBT. When they do,
we will know for sure, and make plans from
there.â€
The National Coordinator of the Education
Rights Campaign, ERC, Mr. Hassan Soweto,
however said that the Federal Government is
to blame. In a statement to Learning,
he said: â€œThis yearâ€™s UTME has again exposed
the rot in Nigeriaâ€™s public education sector.
From the breakdown of the result, out of
1,015,504 candidates that sat for the exams,
only about 108,488 candidates scored between
200 and 249 points. This is a dismal
performance. But the candidates are not to be
blamed?

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Asked by MedVic on 9th May, 2014