JAMB Gets 7 Days Ultimatum To Release Scripts For Remarking

An education consultant, Mr. Oludotun Shodunke, has given the Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) a seven-day ultimatum to
release some scripts for re-marking or face court action.
Shodunke wants to prove that the examination body failed many
candidates because the examination questions allegedly leaked.
In an interview withThe Nation, Shodunke, who led some candidates to
protest the mass failure in the UnifiedTertiary Matriculation
Examination (UTME) in Maryland, Lagos, last Thursday, queried the JAMB
leadership led by Prof Dibu Ojerinde in conducting the examination.
He stressed that most of the students "were failed" by the body
because of the rumour that the examination papers leaked.
"If the examination papers leaked, the right thing is for the body to
have cancelled the exercise and fixed another day for it. You cannot
punish students with what I called 'monumental failure' because the
examination papers leaked. Leakage of examinations cannot be blamed on
the students," he said.
He also alleged that the mass failure might be a way to favour the
candidates that will be writing the Computer Based Test (CBT) from
Saturday.
The founder of Pathfinder Academy, which offers tutorials for
candidates preparing for external examinations, noted that as a
concerned parent, he has directed his lawyer to request for some of
the scripts, "because I am certain that these students did not fail.
Since I started this campaign many students have volunteered to have
their scripts remarked by an external person and that is what we are
asking for. We have asked Prof Ojerinde to release five of such
scripts. We don't want to ask for 50,000 scripts but just five so that
Nigerians will understand what we are saying that the students did not
fail but were failed."
He said his lawyer will not hesitate to approach the court if the body
refuses to release the demanded scripts within seven days.
He warned that the mass failure recorded can escalate the insecurity
the country is experiencing, "because these are youths and are easy
prey when they are idle". He pleaded with the leadership of the
country to persuade Ojerinde to have a rethink and remark the scripts.
It will be recalled that the Board withheld the results of 80,419
candidates for culpability in examination malpractices. Ten candidates
scored 300 and above; 628 scored between 270 and 299; 33,115 scored
between 250 and 269; while 704,622 scored between 200 and 249.
About 571,298 scored between 170 and 199; 103,489 scored between 160
and 169; while 127,017 scored less than 159.
A total of 1,629,102 candidates applied to sit for the Paper Pencil
Test (PPT), while 15,008 candidates applied for the Dual Based Test,
bringing the number of candidates to 1,644,110.
But JAMB Public Relations Officer, Mr Fabian Benjamin, debunked the
claims of leakages or mass failure.
He said: "Before we write our exams, our keys (answers) are already on
ground. Don't forget we started marking that very day. Examination
towns that are close to Abuja, Kaduna are marked that very day. Our
marking is computer based marking. And our questions did not leak.
Anybody telling you that the question leaked is just speaking from his
imaginations.
"Our exam is not a fail/pass examination. It is an entrance
examination. Our minimum pass mark for last year was 180 for
universities and 160 and above for polytechnics and colleges of
education. The pass mark is determined at a policy meeting chaired by
the Minister of Education. The meeting is yet to hold for this year."