OLOYODE’S CROCODILE’S TEARS NOT ENOUGH TO ABSOLVE THE INEFFICIENCY OF JAMB!

FRESH EXAM FOR ALL AFFECTED CANDIDATES MUST BE CONDUCTED ACCORDING TO THEIR CONVENIENCE; DO NOT HURRY CANDIDATES INTO ANOTHER MASS FAILURE!

UTME MASS FAILURE: A REFLECTION OF THE COLLAPSE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION!

The admission of error by the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyode, in the results uploaded for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) is a product of the public outcry that greeted the mass failure recorded in the examination, something which has become an annual occurrence. Probably, left to Oloyede and his team, they would have continued to live in denial while placing the blame on innocent candidates. Immediately the statistics of the results were released, without any logical and critical appraisal of the results, Oloyede and his men were happily making rhetoric, declaring students as being unserious and suggesting that JAMB is infallible and perfect in its ways; even when, according to their new revelation, they had not reviewed the results.

This is why Nigerians must not be moved by the crocodile tears shed by Oloyode after swallowing his pride and accepting that there were errors made. As Oloyede himself alluded to, these errors could have been avoided if the examination body had been thorough and meticulous with the process including the conduct and also carrying out a prompt review before releasing the results. But, instead, JAMB was more interested in self-exaltation despite its obvious failure.

In the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), we welcome the plan to relist the 379,997 affected candidates, from Lagos and South-east states of Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Anambra, for a fresh examination. However, we are of the opinion that this must not be rushed. The registrar already declared that the fresh exams would commence on Friday, May 16, 2025. We believe this leaves many of the affected candidates with no time to prepare adequately both mentally and physically, and also many of the candidates are already engaged in the WAEC examination (SSCE).

The excuse of the Registrar that since WAEC examination is ongoing, the candidates are already prepared for a fresh JAMB exam is fallacious. For the SSCE, a candidate sits for one subject at a time but for UTME it is four subjects. So, even with quite similar syllabi, SSCE and UTME are different exams that require different levels of preparation before an exam date. For us in the ERC, we believe that candidates who are already affected by the inefficiency of JAMB should not be subjected to another problem; therefore, we propose that the fresh exam is conducted after the conclusion of the ongoing SSCE in June. In any case, by the calendar of most tertiary institutions, the earliest time for a new academic session is September, and so, there are still July and August to prepare for the admission process.

Also, JAMB must provide financial compensation for all the affected students to cover logistics and other costs incurred. JAMB has always been more interested in being a revenue-generating agency via outrageous UTME fees and other fees, rather than focusing on its primary aim of conducting quality examinations. There is no reason why financial compensation cannot be made to all affected candidates.

In the error-ridden results released by JAMB, over 78% of candidates scored below 200 marks. Even if we are to assume that all the affected 379,997 candidates scored above 200 marks, this is still below a 50% success rate. This shows that, beyond the inefficiency of JAMB, the poor funding and neglect of public education are also responsible for the low success rate of candidates.

The inefficiency of JAMB is also connected to the collapse of public education. For instance, despite over a decade of transitioning to Computer-based examinations, JAMB still has to rely mostly on private schools and private computer centres to conduct exams. Many of the public schools are in a deplorable state and have no adequate computer facilities. The implication of this is that students, especially those in remote areas without enough or well-equipped private computer centres, will have to travel long distances to reach the nearest exam centres. Also, the collapse of public education has resulted in a great decline in the quality of education and rendered many students incapable of excelling in examinations.

A serious and well-meaning government will not fold its arms while this continues. Sadly, the Tinubu administration, just like previous ones, has not shown any interest in uplifting public education. For us, in the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), Nigerians must use this opportunity to call for the proper funding of the education sector and its democratic management involving elected representatives of education workers and students.

Comrade Ogunjimi Isaac

Deputy National Coordinator)

Adaramoye Michael Lenin

National Mobilization Officer

Email: [email protected]