JUST IN: JAMB FIXES FEBRUARY 6 AS DEADLINE FOR UTME REGISTRATION
JUST IN: JAMB FIXES FEBRUARY 6
AS DEADLINE FOR UTME REGISTRATION.
EDUCATION
NEWS – Latest news update as the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board,
JAMB, has fixed February 6, as deadline for the sale of registration form for
this year’s unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME).
JAMB
Registrar Prof. Is-haq Oloyede who spoke at a meeting on strategic planning,
supervision and evaluation of the conduct of 2018 unified tertiary
matriculation examination (UTME) in Abuja Tuesday, said only 283,319 candidates
had registered for the examination.
The
board also fixed March 9 to 17 for the conduct of the UTME in 620 computer
based test centres across the country.
The
registrar said “Because of the criticisms that trailed the sale of entry form
for a month in the past years, the board has decided to earmark two months so
that every willing candidate will be able to purchase, fill and submit the
forms.
“We
opened entry from December 6, 2017 to February 6, 2018, but one month later,
only less than a quarter of the two million candidates expected for the
examination this year have registered.”
Prof.
Oloyede said its mock examination slated for January 22 would now hold in first
week of February.
He
blamed the shift of the mock examination on the strike embarked on by members
of NASU, noting that the strike made the CBT centres in affected tertiary
institutions not available for accreditation.
The
JAMB registrar also banned the use of wristwatches, biros, pencils and other
devices from the examination hall.
He
added that the ban affects both candidates and examination officials.
“The Board has prohibited additional materials during the 2018 UTME in the
examination hall. These include wrist watches, biros, calculator, biros,
pencils except the common HB pencil, and any other device that can store data,
transmit or receive signal no matter the form. These prohibitions are not only
applicable to the candidates but to all examination officials. The reasons for
this will be provided shortly.
“Scanned
pictures of candidates are no longer accepted for registration, except live
capture at the accredited CBT Centres as part of the Registration Procedure.
Furthermore, candidates’ pictures will be embossed on all candidates’ documents
generated by JAMB henceforth,” he said.
The
registrar also disclosed that Minister of Education Malam Adamu Adamu has
queried 42 institutions for charging candidates more than N2000 for their
post-UTME.
“There
is nothing wrong with post-UTME provided that our candidates are not extorted.
The honourable minister of education queried about 42 institutions for charging
more than N2000. We made recommendation to the minister and the minister said
all of them should refund the money. He gave them two weeks and all of them are
making refund now.
“He has
put his feet down that all excess charges should be refunded and people can
testify to the fact. Where they have the list they are paying them directly and
in this case where Vice Chancellors proved clearly that those candidates could
not be traced the minister has given appropriate directive.
“Candidates
are reporting back to us. In one case where they could not, the minister
directed that they should pay the money to a non religious orphanage, orphanage
owned by the state or anything because those people couldn’t be traced,” the
registrar said.
According
to him, the figures being paraded as qualified candidates to write its
examination was not true.