THE Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has said it would not revert to pencil and paper even though there is low computer literacy level of candidates.
This was even as it said the board is collaborating with a private institute to set up centres for visually impaired candidates in Abuja, Lagos and Kano in 2018.
The Registrar of the board, Professor Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede disclosed this on Wednesday at the opening ceremony of Strategic Planning Retreat on Monitoring and Supervision of 2017 UTME held at Arewa House,Kaduna.
He said the board will not revert to the old paper and pencil mode, but would introduce an eight-key device.
According to him the eight-key device will eradicate the challenge of computer illiteracy and phobia for mouse by some candidates.
According to him, “From the general feedback on the adoption of the Computer Based Test mode, we have noted the challenge of computer low level literacy of some candidates, especially with the phobia for the mouse. This has been responsible partly for the call by some people for reversal to the Paper and Pencil Test mode.”
“In order to ensure equity and level playground for all candidates taking Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, the Board has designed a system that will allow candidates use only eight keys without the use of mouse. All the candidates need to do is to press the letters A, B, C, D for responses to questions and keys: P, N, S and R representing; previous question, next question, submit and reverse, respectively,” he said.
Speaking on the new arrangements for the visually impaired candidates, the JAMB Registrar said, Digital Bridge Institute in partnership with the board has agreed to set up three dedicated centres in Abuja, Lagos and Kano in 2018, adding that, the board will support the centres with necessary inputs.
He however said that, ahead of 2018, when the project of dedicated centres will come to fruition, the board has reached an understanding with the association for the blind persons in Nigeria and blind students in Lagos that, an abridged approach would be used for the 2017 UTME, whereby all prospective blind candidates would be invited to three centres in the country for special assessment in their subjects of choice and relevance to their desired courses and programmes.
Professor Oloyede while addressing the participants, most of whom are external Supervisors and other stakeholders drawn from various tertiary institutions and education sector, said all concerned stakeholders must take UTME as their own and make it a project.
He noted that the conduct of the board’s examination, which is a selection examination, is the foundation of quality education, therefore, they must see their involvement in UTME as a call to national duty and personal sacrifice.
The JAMB boss said, “it is not enough for Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) to visit examination centres with sirens and large entourage of government functionaries with very little impact to show for their participation, other than to be under television camera lights and beamed same to the whole world but yet, the outcome of the examination is laced with stories of examination malpractice. This time around, the major players with requisite integrity, intelligence and appropriate knowledge of the assessment would be fully engaged to actively participate in the supervision of the examination,” he stressed.
