The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has revealed that it will be delisting all Computer-Based Test Centres that failed during the 2022 UTME exercise.
Consequently, all centres which were not able to perform optimally to the approved capacities leading to the painful reduction of their capacities to conduct the 2022 UTME to specification would also be delisted.
However, those centres which experienced the same challenges the previous year but were pardoned yet failed to address their failings would be permanently delisted.
The Board, in a statement at the end of its post-examination Management committee meeting, stated that the drastic measure became imperative as the preparations for the 2023 UTME began right from the last day of the 2022 examination.
The statement noted with satisfaction that in general, the 2022 UTME was adjudged to be better by far in terms of not only the least number of malpractice cases ever recorded but also in the overall deliverables of the exercise. The Board expressed its readiness to surpass this record in subsequent exercises.
Meanwhile, the board has revealed that to be approved as a fresh Computer-Based Test centre to participate in the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) administered by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), such a centre must be fitted solely with laptops having a minimum of 14-inch monitor before securing necessary approval. Other additional minimum requirements would be released subsequently.
This is to put prospective CBT applicants on notice as no CBT centre applicant with desktop computers would be approved going forward.
This measure became necessary on account of reported cases of power challenges in a few centres and, therefore, resolved this measure to ensure that no centre fails as a result of power outages in the future. In the same vein, the Board enjoined both new and old centres to acquire alternative power sources like inverters and solar rather than depending solely on generators.
The board assures the general public that it would not relent in its quest to continue to devise ways of addressing challenges that are inhibiting the smooth conduct of its examination. The Board, therefore, restated its commitment to safeguarding the integrity of all its operational processes and urged all its service providers who are not ready to conform to look elsewhere.
In addition, the board is phasing out the use of zero thin client computers from the conduct of its UTME. It is to be noted that zero thin client systems owe all their operational existence to a server.
Hence, the major drawback against a zero thin-client configuration is that once the memory of the server is exhausted or if there is any network disruption, all connected users are simultaneously affected thereby impacting multiple candidates at once in the centre. This policy direction is one of the measures being contemplated to holistically address the issue of examination disruptions.
Consequently, the Board, in consideration of the immense benefits to candidates and centres alike, is requesting its partnering centres to begin to plan towards obtaining mini PCs which are not only cheap to procure and easy to operate but also more efficient in terms of power consumption.
As a proactive organisation, the Board would not rest on its laurels as it would continue to leverage on the best technology available to enhance its operations.