From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) said it’s considering another opportunity for some candidates who could not participate in the mock Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) that was conducted across some selected Centres, on Thursday, for no fault of theirs.
JAMB spokesman, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, asked the affected students not to worry as JAMB will reschedule and inform them about the new date for the mock UTME.
He admitted that challenges were recorded across some centres, and confirmed that they are trying to address the issues that arose during the mock UTME preparatory to the UTME proper that will start in few days time.
He assured that any candidates that could not write the examination on the scheduled date will be rescheduled for another examination.
JAMB, on Thursday conducted the 2023 UTME optional mock examination for 176,408 candidates who had indicated interest during registration to participate in the exercise.
Unfortunately, there were pockets of challenges experienced by the candidates who turned out as scheduled, particularly the challenge of network which eventually distorted the time and venue, thereby, causing delay and confusion for many candidates.
A candidate, Mary Samson, whose examination was slated for 9: 00am, said she was unable to write the examination as scheduled because the first badge, which was for 7.00am were yet to write as at about 10.00am.
She said the officials at the Digital Bridge Institute, Jabi, Abuja, which was her centre later asked her and some other affected candidates to go to a particular Centre located in Maitama, Abuja, because they could not accommodate the number of
candidates posted to the Centre, in addition to the technical challenges being experienced.
Some candidates who sat for the examination at Junior Secondary School, Jikwoyi, Abuja, also confirmed that they experienced technical hitches with the computer system which led to several delays that affected the examination timetable.
One of the candidates, Blossom Nwanguma, said the computer system went off just before she started her English language examination, and it occurred thrice but she was able to finish within time.
She also confirmed that some computers malfunctioned during the examination but some technicians were able to fix some of them.
At Aunty Alice Secondary School, Mararaba, Nasarawa State, the mock examinations could not hold due to technical glitches with the computers, hence candidates were quickly moved to another centre for their examination.
Meanwhile, a parent, who pleaded anonymity expressed disappointment with the process. “I brought my daughter to write JAMB mock. Her centre was at Digital Bridge, Jabi, and we were there as early as 7.30am when she was supposed to go into the examination hall by 9.00am.
“Unfortunately, the first badge did not even go in by 7.00am. So, by 9.30am they asked us to go to a Sascon International School, Maitama, Abuja, and the first badge in the school were just entering the hall at about pass 11.00 am and no one was there to explain things to us.”
The parent said she was surprised with the technical and logistic challenges despite the fact that the examination was earlier postponed which would have given more opportunity for JAMB to prepare better.
“We are still having hitches and they told us that it is network problem and candidates were everywhere as the place was so rowdy,” she added.