As this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) begins on Friday, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has vowed to arrest parents found near any Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre during the 2024 UTME exercise.
The directive was issued at the final briefing of the CBT centre owners, which was held virtually on Wednesday, 17th April, 2024.
The spokesman for JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, said this directive became necessary following the intrusive disposition of some parents during the Board’s previous exercises.
Benjamin, who quoted JAMB Registrar Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, said any parent, who disobeys the order would not only be arrested but his ward would also be disqualified from sitting for the examination.
Oloyede explained that this measure became necessary as it has been discovered over time that many of these intruding parents are facilitators of examination infractions while others have, by their actions, disrupted the Board’s examinations in the past.
He added that some miscreants also disguise as parents to infiltrate the centres to perpetrate all forms of infractions.
“The Board’s helmsman noted that going by the extant national policy on education, a candidate for the examination must have attained the age of 17 years.
“Therefore, it is evident that these parents had not allowed their wards to pass through the classes as defined in the document, hence the desperation to follow their wards to the examination venue with the aim of compromising examination officials.
“At any rate, it is clear to any discerning observer that these parents deserve to be sanctioned as they had obviously ‘smuggled’ underage children into the ranks of those scheduled to sit the examination,” the Board note through a statement.
Furthermore, the Registrar said all arrangements have been concluded for the conduct of the 2024 UTME, which will be held in over 700 CBT centres across the nation.
He disclosed that the Board expects a seamless exercise but it has nevertheless made adequate provision to tackle any technical glitch that might occur in the course of the examination.
He, however, warned that if a session experienced any technical challenge, candidates in subsequent sessions would be allowed to sit their examination as scheduled while the candidates in the challenged session would be rescheduled for the last session for the day or the following day or even further depending on the centre schedules.
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