ERC CONDEMNS JAMB’S INSENSITIVE POSTING OF TEENAGERS TO DISTANT LOCATIONS FOR EXAM
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) strongly condemns the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for its grossly insensitive practice of posting candidates to CBT centers located far from their places of residence as well as mandating candidates to arrive the centres at early hours of the morning without regard for their safety.
This careless scheduling has exposed candidates to tragic incidents, including road accidents, in the course of the ongoing UTME. One of such tragic incidents was a fatal road clash at Oyo-Ogbomosho Road last week which led to the death of several candidates. Another incident was of a girl who got missing in Epe Lagos while traveling a long distance ahead of her exam date.
Unfortunately, JAMB has responded to the myriad of complaints with a press statement that lacks any iota of sensitivity or empathy. The statement, which was permeated with bullish tones, accused candidates of deceiving and duping their parents about the scheduling of the examinations while also challenging anyone who has factual proof of being wrongfully scheduled to present same in exchange of a reward.
First and foremost, we have to make the point that the officials of JAMB need to understand that they are working with an examination body dealing with young adults. To this extent, the public communications of such a body even on a matter it considers itself to have been unfairly accused need to be moderate, empathetic and sensitive.
Sadly, the aforesaid statement which was signed by its Public Communication Adviser, Fabian Benjamin, Ph.D. was nothing of such. Rather it was aimed at bulling young adults for daring to complain about a situation they found unpalatable. Even more so, by accusing candidates of deceiving their parents, JAMB is attempting to set parents against their children in an attempt to explain away their own inefficiency. Besides, the organization is portraying parents as irresponsible lots who don’t monitor closely their children or stupid enough not to request to see the exam slip. In any case, several parents took their children on the long journey for the exam and had a first-hand experience of the inefficiency and insensitivity of JAMB.
Secondly, the issue at play here is not just about JAMB posting candidates to another town or state. Rather the complaint is also that even within the chosen town of examination, JAMB posted candidates to CBT centres too distant from their place of residence and also mandated them to resume at the odd hours of 6:30am at these centres – a situation which compelled candidates to embark on journey to the centres as early as 4am thereby exposing them to innumerable dangers.
Here is how JAMB responded to the compliant of time scheduling: “Similarly, anyone who finds no fault in airlines requesting air-travellers to arrive at the airport 2 hours before the departure time should find no fault in encouraging candidates to arrive at the CBT centres, 90 minutes before commencement of examination for preliminary verification.”
This argument is rather sad as it shows the state of mind of JAMB officials. Since when do we use air travel scheduling as a standard for public examinations involving young people! This is an issue concerning the lives of young people some of whom perished in a road accident as a result of JAMB’s inefficiency! If with all his Ph.D., Fabian Benjamin does not understand that scheduling young children to write exam by 6:30am exposes them to danger, then we are really in trouble in this country.
As far as we are concerned, we consider it a disgrace that to this day Jamb has not gotten it right on how to conduct itch-free examinations for students. We find it utterly unacceptable that candidates are posted to centres which are too distant from their places of residence. This act expresses lack of proper planning and logical scheduling of examination centers for candidates. Many candidates entered the exam halls with unsettled minds due to the unnecessary stress they encountered during the process of locating their exam centers.
Finally, we feel the pain of parents who have lost their children, either by road accident or unknown disappearance or thrown into some form of emotional breakdown concern on the whereabouts of their kids.
We therefore demand the following:
- Rescheduling of candidates’ time of arrival at exam centres from 6:30am to 8am to reduce the risk associated with early morning commute.
- Establishment of more CBT centers by government in each locality to reduce congestion.
Ogunjimi Isaac
Deputy National Coordinator
Email: [email protected]