No CCTV cameras, no UTME - JAMB reveals new rules for 2017

- JAMB has made plans to begin monitoring candidates with CCTV cameras

- The move is to ensure that students do not engage in malpractice

- The board has said only examination centers with CCTV cameras will be approved

Prof Ishaq Oloyede, the registrar and chief executive of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has said that candidates, who wish to sit for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, will take the examination under the surveillance of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras.

The registrar while speaking during a briefing in Abuja said the measure was necessary and that it is aimed at preventing examination malpractice during the UTME.

“We believe that certain things should be done. For example, we are conducting the Computer-Based Test, I’m not aware of anywhere in the world where you do the CBT without CCTV. If you are not caught during the examination, you can be caught after the examination because the whole thing will be under coverage.

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“And that is the one instrument that we have been telling CBT operators in the last three weeks and we are not going to compromise that, beginning from the 2017 UTME,” he said.

Oloyede also said that the measure will further strengthen public examinations, particularly entry level examinations into higher institutions.

For CBT centres, any operator who does not install CCTV cameras before the exam will not be accredited for the UTME.

The registrar also cautioned parents, guardians and candidates to avoid patronizing those “fake vendors of UTME forms.”

He also stressed that JAMB had neither started the sales of the form nor authorised any Cyber Cafe operator to sell the form on its behalf.

Oloyede also said: “I can say clearly that I don’t know when we are going to start the sales of forms. All we want to do is to make sure that things that ought to be in place are in place. I cannot tell you exactly when it will be, but I know that sales will commence sooner than later. Why am I saying so? For instance, we are meeting with the heads of other examination bodies.

“We don’t want a situation where pupils will be put under pressure to give up either West African Senior School Certificate Examination or National Examination Council or any other examination whenever they are taking place simultaneously. That is one of the things we want to avoid.

“Secondly, if we hold our examination at a time when students are not ready, the result we get is a high rate of failure. Our examination is a ranking examination, not an achievement examination. This is why we are saying that it is not to extend the validity because the test is to be taken just once.

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“What happens to you in a day can determine whether you pass or fail. If someone quarrels with someone else that day, that can affect his performance, unlike achievement tests where there are inbuilt mechanisms for continuous assessment. We want to work with other examination bodies to ensure that the interest of the pupils is protected.”

Meanwhile, an anti-corruption organization, centre for social justice, equity and transparency (CESJET) has said that all allegations against the registrar, Ishaq Oloyede are false.