Jamb Mock: Parents condemn JAMB’s malfunctioned ICT

7am turned 2pm,Parents of prospective candidates, who sat the Joint Admission Matriculation Board’s mock examination on Thursday in Ekiti State,lamented over technical hitches encountered during the exercise.

The aggrieved parents, expressed disgust at the technical failure experienced in virtually all the designated Computer Test Based Centres across Ekiti,thereby subjecting the applicants to undue pressure.

The brush-up examination that was supposed to take off at 7am in all the JAMB CTB centres like the Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere Ekiti, Phonez computer centre, Ijero Centre , the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti and others, could only start at 2pm due to technical failure from the headquarters of the board.

The participants also complained over unavailability of spaces in all the centres, which makes it difficult for the candidates of the same batch to enter at the same time when the examination begins.

Due to these harrowing experiences, parents who brought their wards for batch A examination in all the centres with the thinking that they will leave the venues around 9am, got stuck and disappointed, as they were made to wait under the trees till 5pm.

Some of the visibly angered parents, said; “This was a very disappointing situation and the JAMB must get it corrected to avert recurrence during the main examination in April.

“The essence of this mock examination is for applicants to get cognate experiences and do a self-examination based on the outcomes. But how do you do a fair assessment of the applicants under this tough condition?

“Applicants who came with the intention to start an examination at 7am ended up starting at 2-3pm. This was highly disappointing and could affect their performances.

“The JAMB authority must correct this anomaly before the coming examination . We are also advising that only the centres with enough spaces should be designated for such examination in future”.

A technical officer at BOUESTI ICT centre, who claimed anonymity, blamed the situation on JAMB.

The source said the failure, had started manifesting since Thursday when the federal government’s body could not ascertain the exact software to use in conducting the mock.

Folaranmi Ajayi

Folaranmi Ajayi, Senior Reporter at Edugist is an educator with over a decade of experience in teaching and helping students pass exams with above-average grades. He is an investigative education journalist with a special interest in local education reporting, mentoring students, public speaking, and online training.