System Failure Mars UTME Exam

System failure is said to be
the major challenge in the current Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) at various centres across the country.
The examination, as The Tide learnt was expected to last for 14 days with over 500 centres in the federation and about eight outside the country.
It would be recalled that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has finally settled for computer-based test for all its candidates after years of threatening to end the paper and pencil test.
Some candidates, like Oge Okpara, said the venture was a healthy one, but blamed system failure for the delay experienced in the examination.
He said where some candidates were to spend 2 hours 30 minutes, they spent an extra one hour due to system failure.
Okpara noted that if the Federal Government could step up action and improve on the CBT, unified examinations in the country would be easier.
Another candidate, Mr Uchegbu Amadi who was to write on a later date in Imo State, said he was told of same system failure by his colleagues who wrote at the same centre.
He said that the digital examination was some how challenging as some of them are not used to the computer.
Amadi said it took him time and money to have some computer training to enable him sit for the examination within the week.
In his views, Mr Bobo Eyidia, said at his centre in Port Harcourt, the examination was hitch-free and the system functioned fairly.
He pointed out that the CBT should be encouraged up to 100 level in all tertitary institutions in the country to enable students cope with the system.
Meanwhile, other candidates have called on the Rivers State Government to provide a central computer centre in the state where intending candidates can sit for any external computer based examination.