We now have monitors to catch cheating UTME candidates – JAMB claims

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof Is-haq Oloyede, has said the board has now set-up monitors at the different Computer-based Test (CBT) centres to detect candidates who indulge in examination malpractices during the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Speaking in an interview, Oloyede said the results of the 2020 UTME were quickly released because the board had upgraded its Information Technology system to identify and separate dubious candidates from genuine ones, thereby reducing the number of hours to investigate results.

He insisted that despite the technical hitches which occurred during this year’s UTME, JAMB had learnt from its past experience, noting that some persons he described as “important Nigerians” monitored the students during the examination.

“We have released results immediately because we have done certain things which mean that we are able to view the CBT centres in real-time. Rather than going back to spend the number of hours used in writing the examination to check the centres, we have upgraded. As the examination is going on, we have now assigned some important Nigerians across the country to sit down somewhere in different places and watch each of the CBT centres,” Oloyede told the Punch.

“So, it is not about going back later to cross-check, but in real time, we are now watching what is going on. If you go to our Information Technology System, you will see that we now have a monitor for examination malpractices. As the examination malpractices are occurring, we are seeing them from the headquarters and it is being uploaded.

“We have learnt from our experience last year. The majority of the malpractices that are supposed to be detected are being detected. So, if we need to cancel some results, we will then do so. This is because the anxiety of people waiting for long has now been removed.”

The JAMB Registrar also revealed that the board decided to widen the examination centres in order to curtail possible conspiracy between candidates and the CBT centres.

According to him, the board had observed that candidates registered at CBTs close to their residence in order to conspire in altering the examination set-up to the detriment of other genuine students who registered at the affected centres.

He said: “You see, many people misinterpret what we call examination towns. No candidate is posted to a town other than the town they had chosen at the time of registration. But what constitutes an examination town is another thing. For example, I am not familiar with Abuja because I am a stranger in Abuja, so let me use Lagos, Ogun or others as examples.

“In the past, Lagos Island, Lekki, Ikoyi used to be separate examination towns. But we discovered that some CBT centres connived with some candidates or their parents, largely their parents to engage in malpractice. They would plan ahead with those centres to engage in exam malpractice because they were sure their candidates were going to take their exam in those places.

“So, what we have now done is to widen the examination town in such a way that in Lagos, for example, you can’t see Yaba, Lekki or Ikoyi standing alone. You will rather have Lagos Mainland as an examination town. Candidates can then be posted to any of the centres on the Lagos Mainland. Then you also have Lagos Island as an examination town where you have Ikoyi, Lekki and the rest. It is only Badagry, Epe and Ikorodu that we have taken individually as examination towns.

“It is to widen the size of the examination town. It is done in such a way that candidates would have to go and speak to four or more CBT centres before they can prearrange to engage in examination malpractices. So, we are not posting people arbitrarily.”