UTME: Reps Calls on FG To Revert From CBT To Paper Test
THE House of Representatives has urged the Federal Government to direct the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to suspend the computer-based 2016 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination test. The decision of the House followed the adoption of the prayers of a motion brought under matters of urgent public importance by a member, Oghene Egoh (PDP-Lagos).
The lawmaker said there was need for JAMB to revert to the paper examination until the board was ready to conduct a hitch-free Computer-Based Test (CBT).
According to him, over a million candidates, who sat for the computer-based UTME, recorded technical hitches.
The technical hitches, he said, jeopardised the candidates’ chances of getting admission into the universities.
His words: “Already, a serious admission problem is rocking the nation because JAMB receives huge allocation from Federal Government every year.
“Yet they charge candidates all manner of fees and majority of the children do not get admission either because of the technical hitches of the CBT or the post-UTME introduced by tertiary institutions,” Egor said.
He added that while some candidates are getting conflicting scores in the exercise, others are complaining of malfunctioning computers.
Aishatu Dukku (APC-Gombe) noted that JAMB is not ready for the computer-based option, adding that the board should “make it optional for students whether they will like to use computer-based or pen and paper” examinations.
But a member, Mohammed Zakari (APC-Kwara), said students in Diaspora, who are participating in the examination, should be considered.
Speaker Yakubu Dogara, in his ruling, mandated the House Committee on Education to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Education to ensure compliance and report back to the House within one week.
