Low scores in UTME not mass failure ― JAMB

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said that the claims of mass failure recorded in the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) are untrue, blaming candidates who failed to prepare for the examination as peddling such rumours.

The Board explained that its examination is a selection or ranking test that does not give room for mass failure as in achievement examinations conducted by National Examination Council (NECO) and West African Examination Council (WAEC), among others.

Spokesperson of JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, also disclosed that all questions were based on texts prescribed for the UTME in its syllabus.

He said ordinarily, the Board would not have reacted to the half-truth being peddled by some disgruntled candidates who, true to all expectations, performed below the credence of their guardians.

Benjamin said contrary to claims by some of the candidates, to ensure that the syllabus is accessible to all candidates sitting for its examination, the Board has made the material available on three platforms, namely, the Board’s Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System (IBASS), a computer disk which is given to candidates after completion of registration, and the link https://www.ibass.jamb.gov.ng as provided with the candidates’ profile code.

He said: “It is not automatic that the NECO/WAEC syllabus should transform into JAMB’s, otherwise there would not have been a need for a separate syllabus for the UTME.”

He said the UTME is not school-based and not an achievement test but a selection or ranking test which ordinarily does not require a syllabus and does not have room for fail or pass as in achievement tests.

He said: “The UTME is not school-based and not an achievement test but a selection or ranking test which ordinarily does not require a syllabus and does not have room for fail or pass as in achievement tests.

“The rumour of mass failure is a fluke and a campaign by those whose source of illicit income has been further blocked.”

“It is our belief that based on facts on the ground, every right-thinking Nigerian would question the 6,944,368 figure on which the 14% ‘pass’ is based.

“For instance, in the 2021 UTME, 1,415,501 registered for both UTME/DE. Out of this figure, 1,340,003 candidates registered for UTME and 75,498 registered for DE.

“The total number of candidates who took the UTME are 1,300,722 with 78,389 candidates absent.

“You can then imagine the spuriousness of the figure of 6,944,368 on which 14% is based. The truth is that this year’s performance is not significantly different from those of previous years.”

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