2024 UTME: Arrest Parents Who Come Near CBT Centres, JAMB Tells Security Operatives

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

Ahead of the commencement of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) slated for Friday, April 19, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has issued a directive to arrest any parent who comes near any Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre during the exercise.

JAMB issued the directive to all owners of CBT centres during a virtual meeting on Wednesday, a statement by the board’s Public Communications Advisor, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, said.

Fabian said the directive became necessary following the intrusive disposition of some parents during the board’s previous exercises.

The statement quoted JAMB’s Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, as saying that any parent, who disobeys this order, would not only be arrested but his ward would also be disqualified from sitting for the examination.

Oloyede said this measure is 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.

According to the board, some miscreants also disguise as parents to infiltrate the centres to perpetrate all forms of infractions.

The registrar further stated that the board has directed security operatives to work with the centres to apprehend any meddlesome parent, who come near the centres.

He 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 determination 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,” he said.

The board also advised candidates to jealously guard their personal details, email address, as well as their registration and phone numbers.

It noted that the advice was issued against the backdrop of some candidates, who might be enticed into patronising any of those fraudulent websites out there.

“Consequently, the Board informed candidates that if their personal details are found with any of such sites, they would be treated as accomplices and prosecuted,” it said.

Oloyede further 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.

“Candidates are to take note of this so that they will remain calm in the event of any disruption. In this wise, any candidate or parent, who disrupt any subsequent session on account of the failure of his/her session, would be disqualified outright from taking the examination,” he said.

The JAMB registrar, who appealed to centre owners to consider the assignment as a national engagement and not as a purely profit venture, urged them to expose the bad eggs among them.

He expressed shock over multiple intelligence showing how the CBT centres have been making efforts to compromise the board’s staff especially with the offer of accommodation.

He urged the centres not to hesitate to expose any staff, who asks for such favours as the board had sufficiently paid its staff for the exercise in line with government regulations, adding that any centre which persists in doing so, might have something to hide.

The JAMB boss also informed participants at the virtual meeting that the board had deployed state-of-the-art technologies to check all manners of infractions, collaborations and other unsavoury acts that are at variance with its code of operations.