By our reporters
Ahead of the March 24th Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME), expectations are high from the over 1.5 million registered candidates who are set to battle for 500,000 admission spaces into institutions of higher learning.
According to the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, the figure is the highest since UTME started three years ago with a marginal increase of 10,338 over the 1, 493,603 candidates for 2011 while the 2010 figure was 1, 375,642.
The Saturday exams would hold simultaneously in 3,001 centers located in 375 towns in the country, with the Board creating additional 129 centres this year against the 2,872 centres used last year.
He noted the number of candidates in foreign countries is also on the rise which he said underscored the acceptability and importance of tertiary educational system across the globe.
Security measures
The exam body has met with security operatives such as Civil Defense Corps, the Police and some private security operatives with some independent watch groups comprising Vice-Chancellors, Rectors, Provosts, among others, while the services of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offenses Commission, ICPC, and men of State Security Services, SSS, have been enlisted to ensure hitch-free examinations.
To this end, 10,000 Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) officials have also been enlisted to provide security for the monitoring of the exams at the 3,001 centers nationwide.
Still not satisfied with these steps, some candidates who spoke with Vanguard Learning tasked JAMB officials to ensure that exam malpractices are reduced to the barest minimum by ensuring that only legitimate invigilators are allowed into the exam centers.
(http://vml1.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Jamb-exam.jpg?9d7bd4) (http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/03/utme-1-5-million-students-battle-for-500000-admission-slots/jamb-exam/)Cross section of candidates during a UTME For Adedoyin Adefuye and Modupeola Ademuyiwa, who are second timers, JAMB can do more on security by installing close circuit cameras to monitor events as they unfold.
"When the invigilators and students who engage in sharp practices know that they are being monitored through the cameras, they would think twice before engaging in anything untoward. They should also make sure that only legal and authorized invigilators are allowed into the exam halls because most of them have compromised themselves and are ready to do anything for money."
500,000 available admission spaces
In 1998, the then JAMB Registrar, Bello Ahmad Salim, said "Nigeria, which currently has 37 universities and 5 other degree awarding institutions, can only manage to enroll some 20 per cent of its qualified applicants.
"During the 1996/97 school year, only 79,904 were offered places in universities by the board from 475,923 students who applied for places. The number of applicants has continued to grow astronomically without a concomitant growth in the number of available places in the institutions."
Twelve years later, with about 122 universities, the situation seems to have taken a turn for the worst. Despite the fact that almost 1.5 million candidates registered for the UTME, not more than 500,000 are guaranteed admission into institutions of higher learning, raising questions not just about the limited admission spaces but also about the price many students are willing to pay (sometimes literally) as well as the negligence of alternatives to the university education that the Nigerian educational system originally sought to provide.
When some JAMB 2012 applicants were asked what lengths they would go to ensure success in the exams this year, Vanguard Learning got a mixture of responses.
Timi Okoronkwo, a second timer said: "If I have the opportunity to cheat, I'll do so because I want to get admission. It's a general thing to cheat during JAMB."
Another applicant, who didn't want her name in print, said: "I'm a bit scared because I heard that JAMB is hard. I think I might ask people in the exam hall for answers that I don't know. But most of the answers that go around are usually not correct."
A lot of other applicants however, are willing to go the extra mile only on the right lane. One of such, Adeniyi Remi, said: "This year, I'm working extra hard, going for lessons, and practicing the syllabus myself. I can't cheat during JAMB because the officials are usually very strict and I don't want to risk it. Even if someone sends me the answers, I won't use them."
Emordi Sunday said "I don't think it's necessary to cheat. I cheated last year and I didn't do so well, that's why this year, I'm going to do it on my own."
For Amaka Azodo, "This year, I'm reading extra hard. I'm doing TDB, that's reading till day break. I've put everything behind me, and I think my academics should come first. I don't think people should collect expos especially when they have to change their type. A lot of my friends failed the last exams for that reason."
For Okpehromu Golden, "In as much as everything is in God's hands, I've put in 2 extra hours of study daily to ensure that I gain admission this year. This is an examination that would determine my future so I'm a little bit scared because some impulses are impossible to predict."
Though Modupeola Ademuyiwa is not scared about the exams, what is of concern to her is the post-UME exams as she says that would determine if one is admitted into one's school of choice.
"I want to score 280 this year so as to be admitted. I scored 210 last year but because of my low marks in the post-UTME, was refused admission into Unilag."
For Chigozie Amunike, a second timer, perfecting his timing would mean being a step closer to gaining admission this year. "I would improve on all the subjects I did last year. Though I'm prepared, but still under pressure from friends and family to make it this time. My plan is to improve on my timing as I didn't finish the questions last year and that affected my aggregate score."
Notably tired of the system is Priscilla Okafor, who is writing the UTME exams for the third time. "I took the UTME in 2010 after leaving secondary school and I scored 240. At the Uniben post-UTME, I scored 48 as against the requisite 50 cut-off mark. My second attempt of post-UTME at the University of Nigeria (UNN), Nsukka was futile as my result was not found on the university's server, but I pray that God should see me through at the exams on Saturday."
On her part, Juliet Iroajanma attributed her partial preparedness to her futile efforts in the last four years to gain admission into a university.
"I had already decided to apply for a part-time programme, but for my younger sister who purchased this year's JAMB form for herself and mine. However, I await to see what will happen on Saturday."
Exam materials for candidates
Ojerinde warned candidates against entering exam halls with materials such as handsets and other communication gadgets, stating that candidates will be provided with calculators and other writing materials such as pencils, erasers and sharpeners at no extra cost.
"Anyone found with such gadgets would be deemed to have been engaged in examination malpractice and the full weight of the provisions of examination malpractice law will be applied. The board is hereby appealing to all candidates to strictly adhere to the rules of the examination by conducting themselves properly during the examination."
He stated that candidates are only allowed to enter exam halls with their examination e-slip which contains all relevant information including examination number, centre, subjects, choices of institutions made and proposed courses of study.
Biometric finger-prints
Responding to complaints of challenges posed by the biometric machines, the JAMB boss said the machines have been upgraded to work faster and are user friendly with capacity to verify all candidates at a centre in less than 40 minutes.
"The biometric machines to be deployed are technically faster than the one used in 2011. It takes only fraction of a second to get the machine to initialise using candidate examination centre code. It is easy and user friendly because all that is needed to operate is just to connect the system to its power pack, enter the centre code and the system is automatically ready for verification."
Vanguard Nigeria