PROF. OLOYEDE MONITORS THE CONDUCT OF UTME FOR THE BLIND
The Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, on Friday, 28th April, 2023, has monitored the conduct of the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination for blind candidates in Lagos State. The special examination was conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for the visually impaired candidates and was held between 27th and 29th April, 2023, in eleven centres across the federation under the supervision of the JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEO G), headed by Prof. Peter Okebukola.
The Registrar, who was elated seeing the joy on the faces of the blind candidates, assured them that there is ability in whatever disability one has adding that the Board would do everything within the law to ensure that they achieve their educational goals.
To do this, he said the Board would facilitate admission for those who met the minimum requirements for admission. The Chairman, JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG), Professor Peter Okebukola, who received the Registrar at the University of Lagos Centre, gave some highlights of the 2023 UTME whi le commending the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, for the special arrangement for this category of Nigerians, saying the goal of the Oloyede-led JAMB is to ensure that no Nigerian who is eligible, is prevented from taking the UTME regardless of disability.
He disclosed that from 2017, JEOG has processed about 2,600 candidates for the UTME with over a third admitted to courses of their choice in higher education institutions in Nigeria, mainly universities, adding that this JAMB initiative has been cited in the last four years in several countries, as a good model for Africa.
The former Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), explained that the mode of examination administration is bimodal- use of Personal Computers (PCs), use of the traditional Braille slate and stylus/typewriters in writing answers to questions that are read out by a subject expert, stressing that the blind candidates take the same test items as those who are not blind.
Prof. Okebukola, who is also the Chairman Governing Board of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) revealed that JAMB has approved that from 2024, there would be a gradual migration to a full CBT mode customized for blind candidates.
He noted that a pilot test is to be conducted later in the year to trial this mode. He also disclosed the options available to candidates in terms of opting for fully Braille, fully CBT and read-aloud modes. Giving insights into the intervention of the Board on this exercise, Prof. Okebukola said, “In 2019, of the 390 candidates, a total of 175 (44.8%) were given admission. This was unprecedented in the history of admission of such category of students into the Nigerian higher education system, another of Professor Oloyede’s golden legacies.
“In 2020, 89 of the 351 blind candidates (25%) that sat the UTME got admission. In 2021, a total of 110 blind candidates were given admission, out of the 332 that sat the UTME. This 33% admission of blind candidates to higher education in an annual cohort is unprecedented in the African higher education system.
“In 2022, 139 candidates out of the 364 candidates that took the UTME (38%) were admitted to higher education institutions of their choice. “Five of the blind candidates scored above 270 in the 2022 UTME. Ninetytwo scored above 200. When compared proportionally with the non-blind candidates, the blind candidates are doing as well, if not better than their sighted counterparts.” “The 2023 exercise is taking place in 11 centres nationwide.
This is in line with the desire of the Board to bring the venue of the examination closer to the candidates, especially in view of the prevailing security situation in the country. “The centres are coordinated by seasoned academics and university administrators. The total number of candidates is 364,” he stated.
He added that JEOG is already implementing a strategic plan of action that would gradual ly increase the ICT component of administration of the UTME to match improvement in ICT usage for the education of the blind in the nation’s Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.
“Through the kindness of Professor Is-haq Oloyede, JAMB takes full responsibility for hotel accommodation and feeding of the candidates in the 11 centres and pays generous transport supplementation while providing them with conducive environment to sit the examination. “Additionally, each blind candidate receives the very precious tools of slate and stylus from JAMB that will be used during their course of study, when admitted in any tertiary institutions.
While delivering the vote of thanks on behalf of all the candidates taking the examination, Candidate Jacob Abednego Ogheneganre, commended the Registrar for always putting their welfare into consideration as evidenced by all his programmes for the Blind.
THE BOARD WILL CONTINUE TO STRIVE TOWARDS PERFECTION – OLOYEDE
The Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, on Friday, 28th April, 2023, monitored the conduct of the 2023 UTME in Lagos, where he declared that the Board would continue to strive towards ensuring that its processes are perfect and the best globally. “We are adventurous and very ambitious in whatever we do. That explains why we are never afraid of taking very daring steps,” he disclosed.
The Registrar, who was accompanied by the Head, Public Affairs and Protocol of the Board, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, and some other functionaries of the Board including members of the media, went round some selected Computer-Based Test centres in Lagos to have first-hand information on the conduct of the exercise in the commercial nerve centre of the nation. The monitoring exercise, which started as early as 6:00am at the WAEC Testing and Training Centre, Abule Egba/Agege, ended at the ETC Nigeria Ltd., Centre, JKK House, Mainland, Lagos. Prof. Oloyede, while fielding questions from the members of the media, adjudged the exercise as hugely successful. He, however, regretted the glitches initially experienced in some States, particularly on the first day of the exercise.
According to him, the hitches were expected by the Board, as should be the case when land mark innovations are being trial led, which, he said proves the truism that Nigerian s could, indeed, do a lot on their own without relying on any external partners. “The 2023 UTME was a huge success because we deployed one of the best home-grown technologies that many thought was impossible.
That was partly responsible for the shaky start but in the final analysis, the candidates, the Board and the nation are the ultimate beneficiaries,” he said.
He added that all the challenges experienced at the outset had been taken care of while those who experienced problems, were given the opportunity to retake the examination. He disclosed that reports from the field indicated that the entire exercise was a huge success. He also lauded the candidates, the centres and all stakeholders for the manner in which they had all conducted themselves.
The Registrar said the examination went exactly the way it was designed and that, he said, was responsible for the drastic reduction in the cases of infractions recorded. He disclosed that 270473 candidates sat the examination in 65 CBT centres in Lagos State, which is 16 per cent of the total number of registered candidates nationwide.
JAMB TO CONCLUDE 2023 UTME ON SATURDAY, 6TH MAY, 2023
…Says No Candidate Will Be Denied Opportunity To Sit Exam On Account Of Hitches
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB) has said that it would be concluding the conduct of the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) on Saturday, 6th May, 2023.
Meanwhile, the Board assures the general public that no candidate would be denied the opportunity of taking the examination on account of technical hitches encountered in the course of taking the examination. Dr. Benjamin, who briefed the media on Thursday, 27th April, 2023, after a tour of some centres in Abuja in the company of some journalists, said this was possible as the Board was not unmindful of some teething challenges that could crop up during the exercise on account of some novel functionalities that were to be trialled, hence a series of mitigating mechanisms had been put in place.
He said a total of 1,595,779 candidates were scheduled to sit the examination in 708 centres in 105 examination towns across the country. He, however, reiterated the Board’s earlier position that it would not be in any hurry to release the results of the examination without subjecting the footage obtained at the various centres to a preview by a team of experts to check for examination malpractice adding that the result of any candidate found wanting would be withheld before release not after.
The Head, PAP, also reiterated the Board’s determination to provide credible and quality assessment through adherence to global best practices. He stated that the challenges encountered in the course of the examination were borne out of the Board’s overarching desire to achieve a flawless testing outcome and to safeguard the sanctity of its examination.
2023 UTME: OLOYEDE’S EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AGENDA REAL – OKEBUKOLA
As JAMB Examines 364 Candidates With Disabilities
The Chairman, JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG), Prof. Peter Okebukola, h a s commended the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, for his passion for catering for candidates with disabilities.
The commendation came as JAMB examined 364 candidates in eleven centres in the 2023 UTME exercise. According to Prof. Okebukola, the goal of the Oloyede – led administration is to ensure that no candidate, who is eligible to sit the UTME, is denied the opportunity of doing so regardless of status. “Prof. Oloyede holds the firm view that we must have a level playing field for all candidates. As long as they are intellectually capable and meet the minimum conditions for admission into tertiary institutions of their choice, they should have a good chance of getting admitted.
The former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), also pointed out that since 2017, JEOG has processed about 2,600 candidates for the UTME with over a third admitted to courses of their choice in higher educational institutions in Nigeria, mainly universities. “This initiative of the Board has been cited in the last four years in several countries, as a good model for Africa as the blind candidates take the same test items as those who are not blind.” “There are exciting times ahead for blind candidates and others with disabilities in furtherance of Prof. Oloyede’s equal opportunity agenda.”
“To facilitate the administration of the examination, the Board has fashioned out a mode of examination administration comprising the blended use of personal computers (PCs) the traditional braille slate and stylus/typewriters in writing answers to questions that are read out by a subject expert.” “By way of logistics assistance, JAMB takes full responsibility for hotel accommodation and feeding of the candidates in the eleven centres as well as pays generous transport supplementation while providing them with conducive environment to sit the examination. Additionally, each blind candidate receives the very precious tools of slate and stylus from JAMB that will be used during their course of study, when admitted in any tertiary institution of theirchoice.”
RESCHEDULING OF OUTSTANDING CANDIDATES TO SIT THE EXAMINATION ON SATURDAY, 6TH MAY, 2023
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced that all candidates, who could not sit the 2023 UTME within their scheduled time owing to no fault of theirs, would be rescheduled to take the examination on Saturday, 6th May, 2023.
Candidates under these categories are principally those (i) who were verified at their centres but could not sit the examination (ii) those who could not be biometrically verified, and (iii) those with mismatched data. You will recall that the Board scheduled the conduct of the 2023 UTME from Tuesday, 25th April to Tuesday, 2nd May, 2023.
It is equally noteworthy that the Board had informed Nigerians that it would be using some novel innovative methods in conducting the exercise with the aim of completely arresting incidences of examination infractions. This has been largely achieved as the exercise recorded the lowest reported cases of infractions but with equally emerging challenges on account of human negligence which led to some candidates not being able to sit the examination on the first day.
This notwithstanding, out of the 1,586,765 candidates that indicated interest in sitting the examination, only 80,166 are now outstanding. On the first day of the 2023 UTME, a number of candidates in some centres could not sit the examination as well as in some centres in subsequent days due to diverse reasons. Though a reasonable number of them have been rescheduled and have taken the examination, some are yet to take their examination. As part of the decisions reached at the end of an emergency management meeting held on Sunday, 30th April, 2023, the Board has fixed Saturday, 6th May, 2023, for all categories of candidates who have not sat their examination, as listed below, to take their examination.
THE CATEGORY OF CANDIDATES SCHEDULED TO TAKE EXAMINATION ON SATURDAY 6TH MAY, 2023, ARE AS FOLLOWS: A. UNVERIFIED CANDIDATES
These are candidates, who were registered for the 2023 UTME without manifesting any biometric difficulty but who could not be verified on the day of the examination. These candidate shad not previously manifested any fingerprint defect or experienced any biometric challenge during the 2023 UTME registration but could not be verified to sit the examination on their scheduled examination date. These candidates will be taking their examination in Abuja, under close supervision.
B. CANDIDATES AT BEAUTIFUL BEGINNING CBT CENTRE, APO, ABUJA. All candidates, who were scheduled to sit the 2023 UTME at the Beautiful Beginning CBT Centre, Apo, Abuja, but missed the examination for whatever reason have been rescheduled to take the examination on Saturday, 6th May, 2023.
There scheduling of all the candidates , who missed the examination is as a result of the mistake made in the address of the centre, which had led to some candidates missing their examination. It should be noted that the name of the centre which is Beautiful Beginning CBT Centre Parents are, therefore, to note that the UTME is a personal examination and is not to be handed to their children’s schools to manage.
They are to note that the Board would not accept any blame for candidates missing their examinations as a result of not accessing vital information or centre location attributable to the unwelcome intervention of these schools., Apo, Abuja, featured “Gwagwalada” rather than “Apo” hence mi s leading the candidates. As a responsible organization, the Board would not abdicate its responsibilities and has consequently, rescheduled all candidates posted to the centre, who could not sit their examination on account of the wrong address or any other reason, to ensure that no candidate misses the examination.
C. CANDIDATES RESCHEDULED TO TAK E THE E XA M INAT ION ON THURSDAY, 27TH APRIL, 2023, BUT WHO COULD NOT RECEIVE THE NOTIFICATION Also to take the examination along with the unverified candidates on Saturday, 6th May, 2023, are those candidates, who had been rescheduled to retake their examination on Thursday, 27th April, 2023, but who received their notification late on Thursday night and so missed their examination. Some of these candidates could not receive the notification because their school held on to their channels of receiving messages such as their SIM cards, their e-mail addresses and profile codes.
The Board, in spite of its repeated warnings that its processes are not school-based and would not take responsibility for any of such challenge, is bending over backwards to accommodate these set of candidates, who have also been rescheduled to sit the examination on Saturday, 6th May, 2023.
D. CANDIDATES IN CENTRES WITH REDUCED CAPACITY Among the candidates, who have not taken their examination, are those whose centres could not carry their full capacity of 250 and, such, had to be batched with some of these centres taking 150 candidates rather than the 250 allotted to them per session. Some of these remaining candidates in the batched sessions have also been rescheduled and have taken the examination but some are yet to do so
E .CANDIDATES WITH DATA MISMATCH For obvious reasons, some CBT centres mismatched the data of some candidates they registered. This was also made possible by the carelessness of these candidates who could not avail themselves of the Board’s provision of dual screens to monitor the course of their registration. These category of candidates could not sit the examination as their mismatched personal details could not be rectified early enough to enable them sit their examination at their scheduled time.
The process of rectifying their data is ongoing and they will also be scheduled to sit the examination on Saturday, 6th May, 2023. E. RELEASE OF RESULTS The Board would be releasing the results of candidates, who have taken the examination so far on Tuesday, 2nd May, 2023.
The Board had delayed the release to ensure that all necessary screening are concluded besides ensuring that the mean and standard deviation are reasonably obtained before releasing these results. As candidates check their results on Tuesday, 2nd May, 2023, those who sat the examination but had challenges without being aware of such, would not see their results but would instead see their notification for rescheduled examination. Consequently, all candidates who sat the examination are urged to check their results on or before Thursday, 8th May, 2023. F. PRINTING OF RESCHEDULED EXAMINATION NOTIFICATION SLIP All candidates under the categories listed above are required to print their slips on or before Thursday, 4th5th May, 2023, so as to know the time and venue of their examination. Candidates are to note that they would be grouped in a central location within their respective States to sit the examination hence the need for them to print their notification slips latest by Thursday, 4th May, 2023, so as to make sufficient arrangements to sit the examination.
JAMB TO HOST AFRICA REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
As part of efforts to give equal opportunity to people with disabilities, particularly candidates desirous of tertiary education, arrangements are in top gear for Nigeria to host the first Biennial Africa Regional Conference on Equal Opportunities slated to hold in 2024. The Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, is to chair the international conference with 55 Afri can countries in attendance. The Chairman, JAMB – Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG), Prof. Peter Okebukola, dropped this hint in Abuja, on Thursday, 27th April, 2023, during the presentation of JEOG’s Report on the Conduct of the 2023 UTME For Blind Candidates.
“We are happy to report that JAMB has approved, within the framework of Agenda 2023 and SDG 4, to host the Biennial (every two years) African Regional Conference on Equal Opportunities in Higher Education starting from 2024 to be chaired by Professor Is-haq Oloyede with all the 55 African countries participating. A national conference on the same theme has also been approved by Professor Oloyede and his management team and would hold in September, 2023.” He also stated that the Board had approved that as from 2024, there would be a gradual migration to the full CBT mode of testing which would be customized for blind candidates.
A pilot test is to be conducted later in the year to trial this mode of assessment in order to make more options available to candidates, who elect to take their UTME in fully Braille, fully CBT or fully Read-aloud modes. The committee has also proposed to JAMB the inclusion of the top three institutions with the highest number of candidates with disabilities admitted in a given year in the National Admission Merit (NATAP-M) Awards to boost the admission prospects of candidates with disabilities.
UTME NOT SCHOOL-BASED EXAMINATION
The attention of the Board has been drawn to the unholy intrusion of the authorities of some elite schools, who consfisticate the registration SIMs of their students. The Board, therefore, wishes to state clearly that, unlike the West African Examination Council (WAEC) , National Examination Council (NECO), etc., the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) Registration and Examination exercises are not school-based. As such, schools have no role whatsoever to play in these operational processes of the Board.
This is because these exercises require only the participation and engagement of individual candidates. It should be recalled that the Board had repeatedly warned authorities of elite schools to stop intruding into the operations of the Board so as not to negatively impact the future of their UTME candidates. According to reports, some elite schools are fond of hoarding the network SIM cards of UTME candidates in their schools, denying them access to their email addresses, their profile codes and, as such depriving them of the opportunity of receiving vital information from the Board. It was also discovered in the ongoing examination that these schools also warehoused their candidates’ examination notification slips leading to many of these candidates missing their examinations owing to their inability to access their slips to know their exact examination schedules.
It is, however, regrettable that some of these candidates after missing their examination placed the blame on the Board whereas much of the information that the candidates needed had been sent to these SIMs which were being held by their schools.
The Board wishes to reiterate that it will not accept any responsibility for the inability of these candidates to turn up on their scheduled examination dates. This information became necessary following the series of complaints by candidates that their notification slips were only handed to them on the examination day by their schools and, as such could not leave early enough to meet their examination schedules or that their SIMs are with their schools and so could not access the messages sent to them by the Board.
This is apart from the series of data mutilation occasioned by the unwholesome practice of group processing of UTME registration, among others. This is evident in the various complaints sent to the Board from schools in Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Kano and others, reiterating the fact that the schools had, through their intruding attitude, denied the candidates the opportunity to receive vital information.
Parents are, therefore, to note that the UTME is a personal examination and is not to be handed to their children’s schools to manage. They are to note that the Board would not accept any blame for candidates missing their examinations as a result of not accessing vital information or centre location attributable to the unwelcome intervention of these schools.