The UTME mass cheating and failure

The reported mass cheating and resounding failure recorded in the April 27 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) are yet another reminder of the extent of decadence in the nation’s morals and its educational system. Accounts had it that the 2013 UTME was marred by incredible cheating, in spite of efforts by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) to use hi-tech devices and procedures during the exam. The examination body also engaged high-profile persons, including senior academics, to be part of the monitoring, supervision and in some cases, invigilation teams at the various exam centres across the nation. Security measures were also in place to avert crisis and violence, among others.
In spite of all, however, cheating on a large scale marred the UTME. Reports said that as early as 6:30a.m., some candidates were already copying answers from their phones into pieces of papers, which they hid in different parts of their bodies. Candidates reportedly paid fees ranging from N2,000 to N3,500 to designated accounts opened by internet fraudsters who allegedly made available the purported answers to them. Examination papers were said to have been completed outside exam venues by candidates, while phones, iPods and other devices were used to fill out objective answers. Some unscrupulous invigilators and parents, among others, also allegedly aided some candidates in writing the examination.
In the end, however, the result of the examination made public recently in Abuja by JAMB’s Registrar, , Prof. Dibu Ojediran, showed that only 10 candidates scored above 300, while 127,017 others scored between one and 159. Ojerinde said about 12,110 results were withheld, while 68,309 candidates from various centres were still undergoing further screening to ascertain their culpability or otherwise in the cheating saga.The over-arching mess again draws attention to the recent remark credited to the Minister of Education, Professor Rukayat Rufai that out of the 1.7 million candidates that sat for the examination, only about 500,000 candidates would be admitted. The fate of the 1.2 million others, whether they passed or failed, would then hang on the balance.
It seems much clearer now that JAMB has turned the UTME into an instrument of extortion. Otherwise, how come it allows almost two million candidates to register for the examination every year; whereas the admission space has stagnated at about 500,000. Need we look further for the major reason behind the desperation and massive cheating? Indeed, the argument that the mass failures were engineered by JAMB because of the limited admission space seems justified.
We think, therefore, that the time has come for the authorities to restrict JAMB to such administrative matters as the sale of forms and issuance of letters of placement to candidates to ensure that no candidate gets multiple admissions. JAMB should be a clearing house for admissions, while the universities and other tertiary institutions should be allowed to conduct their entrance examinations based on established uniform standards. The heavy burden JAMB is saddled with; and hardly improving admission spaces have compromised the sanctity of university examinations. The Federal Government may need to consider the establishment of mega universities, in order to expand facilities to accommodate as many candidates as possible. The University of California in the United States of America is about the size of twelve normal universities, with perfectly updated and functional facilities, for example. While quality should be of prime concern, the FG ought to be worried about the extremely limited space for and the feelings of the teeming population in need of tertiary education as well.
Besides, standardizing the nation’s higher education system would require less if not zero emphasis on all primordial policies as the quota system, catchment area, educationally disadvantaged states, and all that, which combine to make a mess of the entire admission process. We think that merit should count for at least 90 per cent of intakes into the nation’s institutions of higher learning. The concept of federalism thrives best on competition, not on retrogressive primordial considerations, emotions or sentiments.