The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has come under criticisms over its response to the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi over the early resumption time for its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
TheNewsGuru reports that this comes after the former Anambra governor via the microblogging platform on Sunday condemned reports of candidates who were made to travel to examination centers as early as 6:30 am despite security concerns.
The presidential candidate described the situation as “reckless,” citing incidents of accidents and missing candidates, and blamed it on what he called Nigeria’s inadequate investment in education.
He said, “Setting exams for vulnerable teenagers as early as 6:00 AM while transporting them across far-flung locations is reckless.
“Already, reports are emerging of students getting into accidents and losing their young lives, some going missing, and many more being subjected to unnecessary trauma. Who takes responsibility when a 15- or 16-year-old child disappears or is harmed while trying to access their right to education?”
Reacting, the exam body clarified that the early arrival of candidates was necessary to prevent late-coming, which could disrupt the exercise.
In a post on its official X account, JAMB wrote, “Your Excellency, I must assert that our examination is scheduled to commence at 8:00am, not 6:00 am. While verification and other clearance processes begins at 6:30am , it is imperative that candidates are afforded adequate time to settle in before the exam begins.”
The statement added, “Given the tendencies often observed among Nigerians to arrive late when a start time is set without space for eventuality, this structured timeline is essential to ensure that all candidates are properly prepared and can perform to the best of their abilities.”
However, the response of Jamb to former presidential candidate, Obi did not sit well with many who called out the examination body for laying emphasis on the same claim such as Peter Obi.
How Nigerians reacted:
One user comment: “The person handling that jamb account that responded to PO.They should review his jamb results. Cos what is the difference between what PO said and what his saying.”
Another user, rubydennis2090 added, wrote: “It didn’t break, it divided into two. What’s the difference between what Peter Obi wrote and what you’re writing? Do you start by 6:30am or not?”
iam_mztonia wrote: “For someone doing masters or phd verification won’t start at 6:30am. Student should be able to rest their head before writing an exam, I don’t see why jamb can’t start verification by 8am and exam by 10am. I rember travelling to Sango ifo with my dad years back from Ikorodu.”
themeatvilla wrote: “Jamb is crazy… Is the screening at 6:30am not part of the exams preconditions.”
_charles.jnr wrote: Not everything requires defending. JAMB! Do the needful.Obi made a valid point—JAMB needs to call for a stakeholders’ engagement to see how they can improve their exams to make them safer and better for these teenagers.
biyondstudios wrote: AbI ori jamb daru, verification starts by 6:30 am and each centers have hundreds of students, most of these students love very far from that center where you posted them, what time do u expect them to leave thier respective homes, ENKR