By Ngozi Nwankwo
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB has directed all Computer-Based Tests, CBT centre owners to arrest any parent, who is found near any of their facilities during the 2024 UTME exercise.
The directive was issued at the final briefing of the Computer-Based Test, CBT centre owners which were held virtually yesterday.
This directive became necessary following the intrusive disposition of some parents during the Board’s previous exercises.
According to the Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, any parent, who disobeys this order, would not only be arrested but his ward would also be disqualified from sitting the examination.
JAMB Registrar explained that the measure was necessary as it has been discovered over time that many of these intruding parents are facilitators of examination infractions while others have, by their actions, disrupted the Board’s examinations in the past.
He said that some miscreants also disguise as parents to infiltrate the centres to perpetrate all forms of infractions.
The Registrar disclosed that the Board has directed security operatives to work with the centres to apprehend any meddlesome parent, who come near the centres.
He noted that going by the extant national policy on education, a candidate for the examination must have attained the age of 17 years.
“Therefore, it is evident that these parents had not allowed their wards to pass through the classes as defined in the document, hence, the determination to follow their wards to the examination venue with the aim of compromising examination officials.
“At any rate, it is clear to any discerning observer that these parents deserve to be sanctioned as they had obviously ‘smuggled’ underage children into the ranks of those scheduled to sit the examination,” he said.
The Board also advised candidates to jealously guard their personal details, e-mail address, as well as their registration and phone numbers.
This advice is issued against the backdrop of some candidates, who might be enticed into patronising any of those fraudulent websites out there. Consequently, the Board informed candidates that if their personal details are found with any of such sites, they would be treated as accomplices and prosecuted.
The Registrar said all arrangements have been concluded for the conduct of the 2024 UTME, which will be held in over 700 CBT centres across the nation.
He disclosed that the Board expects a seamless exercise but it has nevertheless made adequate provision to tackle any technical glitch that might occur in the course of the examination.
He, however, warned that if a session experienced any technical challenge, candidates in subsequent sessions would be allowed to sit their examination as scheduled while the candidates in the challenged session would be rescheduled for the last session for the day or the following day or even further depending on the centre schedules.
“Candidates are to take note of this so that they will remain calm in the event of any disruption. In this way, any candidate or parent, who disrupts any subsequent session on account of the failure of his/her session, would be disqualified outright from taking the examination,” he said.
Also, Oloyede appealed to centre owners to consider the assignment as a national engagement and not as a purely profit venture.
He urged them to expose the bad eggs among them.
