The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Tuesday has reacted to the alleged mass failure reports in the ongoing 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Recall that some candidates who sat for the ongoing 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) had lamented that their inability to make good grades in the ongoing Joint Admissions And Matriculation Board (JAMB) was due to wrong syllablus
But speaking on Tuesday The board dismissed the alleged claim.
JAMB denied that the questions set for the subjects like Literature in English were based on the wrong syllabus.
The board noted that this year’s performance according to analysis is not significantly different from those of previous years.
The Head, Public Affairs and Protocol of JAMB Dr. Fabian Benjamin disclosed this in a statement forwarded to DAILY GIST on Tuesday.
The statement read; The board ordinarily would not have reacted to the half-truth being peddled by some disgruntled candidates, who were ill-prepared for the examination and who, true to all expectations, performed below the expectations of their guardians, that the Board had based its questions on the wrong syllabus.”
“It is our belief that based on facts on the ground, every right-thinking Nigerian would question the 6,944,368 figure on which the 14% “pass” is based.
For instance, in the 2021 UTME, 1, 415,501 registered for both UTME/DE. Out of this figure, 1,340,003 candidates registered for UTME and 75, 498 registered for DE,”
”The truth of the matter is that all UTME questions are based on texts prescribed for the UTME in its syllabus.”
According to him, to ensure that its syllabus is accessible to all candidates sitting its examination, the Board made the material available on three platforms.
The syllabus was issued to candidates through:
The Board’s Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System (IBASS)
The CD which is given to candidates after completion of registration
The link https://www.ibass.jamb.gov.ng. as provided with the candidates’ profile code.
He added that; “It is not automatic that the NECO/WAEC syllabus should transform into JAMB’s otherwise there would not have been a need for a separate syllabus for the UTME,”
The total number of candidates who took the UTME are 1, 300,722 with 78 389 candidates absent.
“You can then imagine the spuriousness of the figure of 6, 944,368 on which 14% is based. The truth is that this year’s performance is not significantly different from those of previous years
The rumour of mass failure is a fluke and a campaign by those whose source of illicit income has been further blocked.”
While noting that the UTME is not school-based and not an achievement test but a selection or ranking test which ordinarily does not require a syllabus, he said it does not have room for fail or pass as in achievement tests.
DAILY GIST reports that the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Saturday commenced the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) across the country, with first batch of candidates sitting for the Computer Based Test (CBT) examination.
According to JAMB, over 1.3 million candidates successfully registered in the examination that is expected to will run till 3rd July, 2021.
The are concerns over some candidates who could not successfully complete their registration exercise early due to the challenges of National Identification Number (NIN) which was made compulsory for the 2021 registration.
JAMB though has repeatedly assured that provisions will be made to accommodate interest of such candidates.
Technical challenges experienced by candidates also led to the cancellation of examination and delisting of some centres across the country.
The head of public affairs and protocol of the examination body, Fabian Benjamin, confirmed the development to Journalists.
Mr Benjamin said the affected candidates would be rescheduled by JAMB to sit the examination at a date to be announced soon.
“Yes, we are aware of the difficulty. The affected candidates will be rescheduled,” he said on the phone.
