Due to technological difficulties, the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) for some candidates at the Christ Ambassadors College, Sabon Tasha, Kaduna Center have been rescheduled by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), several candidates were unable to take the exam at the center on Tuesday, which led to complaints from some of the students and their parents.
Only 150 candidates took the exam in the first batch, and 100 each in the second and third, according to a NAN correspondent who observed the exercise on Wednesday.
With 250 candidates anticipated to write the exam in each batch, this amounted to 350 candidates as opposed to the 750 per day.
Francis Patrick, one of the applicants, disclosed to NAN that the exam was to be taken on April 25 by noon.
But according to Patrick, as of 12:00 p.m., people who were due to take the exam at 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. were still writing because they were late to the exam.
Additionally, we learned that some of the systems were logging out applicants when they still had time to complete the test.
“I stayed till 6:00 p.m., but I ultimately was unable to complete the test. I arrived this morning to learn that some of us who were unable to write yesterday had to turn in their exam slip.
He raged, “Now I don’t know what to do.”
Another candidate, Veronica Isuwa, said that the exam was postponed from its original 9:00 a.m. start time to the following day.
Another candidate, Debora Eze, told NAN that she was told the computers could only handle 100 candidates, despite the fact that she was scheduled to take the test on Wednesday by 12:00 p.m.
She said, “They told us to wait for more instructions, so we are waiting.”
The JAMB Supervisor at the facility, Mrs. Balkisu Abdullahi, addressed the matter and informed NAN that the server could not support 250 computers concurrently as intended.
Candidates who missed the first or second day of the exam, according to Abdullahi, were instructed to submit their examination slips so that JAMB might reschedule their exam at a later date.
She expressed sorrow for the technical difficulties and stated that JAMB was working with the center management to resolve the problem. She also gave parents her word that no child will fail the exam.
She asked parents to mentor their kids and instill moral values in them, stating that bringing blades to exams was unacceptable.
“On Tuesday, we were discussing the technical difficulties and what we intended to do to fix the situation when several of the candidates brandished knives and threatened us.
She continued, “The parents did not help the situation either since instead of calming down their kids, some of them were screaming at the top of their lungs and threatening to sue JAMB.
The school manager, Mrs. Tosin Akinpeloye, said that the JAMB server was upgraded to function efficiently on computers with Core i7 processors, which is why there were technical difficulties.
Akinpeloye said that the school’s computer center contained 20 desktops and 260 laptops with Core i5 processors, and that a server had been brought that could handle all the devices.
I guarantee that any candidate who takes the test on Thursday will pass without a problem, she stated.
However, things were different at the Kaduna State University center, where Mr. Benedict Opke, the JAMB Coordinator, reported that everything was running smoothly and the applicants were being polite.
Favour Bamiboye, a 15-year-old student at the center who hopes to become a doctor, reported that the examination went off without a hitch.
Similar to this, some of the candidates who took the exam at the Queen Amina College center praised JAMB and the school administration for a smooth process.
One applicant at the center, Hafsat Abubakar, stated, “This is my first time writing the UTME, and I am impressed because everything went smoothly.”
