The release of the Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination results by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has elicited reactions from stakeholders, including parents, over the low marks scored by their children, GRACE EDEMA writes
Bolu wept profusely when she checked her UTME result and discovered that she scored 122. Her mother, Mrs Ashade, said for three days, she refused to come out of her room, because of the distressing low mark.
Ashade said Bolu was devastated because her dream of studying Nursing Science might not be achievable in the next university admission as most higher institutions of learning would not accept such a mark.
In a chat with The PUNCH, another parent, Mrs Ebuka said, “My daughter didn’t even show me her result when she checked it. She just stayed indoors and wept. She scored 196 last year and scored 172 this year. She wishes to study Biochemistry.”
Likewise, one of the numerous parents, who took to social media on the Concerned Parents and Educators Network, Joyce Pine, said, “I am confused; my son scored 210 and he is threatening to kill himself. I am tired of begging him.”
Ever since the 2021 UTME results were released on June 22, 2021, there has been an outcry by both parents and students, who expressed shock over what they referred to as mass failure in the exam. Many of the candidates, who sat the exam, were surprised at the abysmally low marks they got.
Our correspondent also overheard some teenage boys discussing in front of an estate in Ogba, Lagos, about how none of them scored up to 200 in the 2021 UTME.
The first boy said, “What do I do now? I thought I would score above 200, but I scored just 142 and I do not want to study any other course apart from Medicine and Surgery at the University of Lagos. What went wrong? All my friends in the church, on our street and even in the tutorial centre that I attended didn’t score above 200.”
Another boy, Sunkami, revealed that some of his friends got multiple results when they checked using the USSD code.
He said, “I know people who got different results and other people’s results when they used the USSD code 55019 to check their results; they got different marks. They had other candidates’ results sent to them. I don’t even understand JAMB; they cannot do little things correctly with all the money they are making from students.”
Sunkanmi led our correspondent to a candidate, Habibat, who explained how her sister was sent different results when she checked for hers.
“My sister used the code and the two results that were given to her were not hers. She was shocked,” she said.
Observers said such an error would make the young Nigerians lose confidence in the authenticity of the UTME results.
Parents, however, felt disappointed and took to social media and other platforms to express their shock. When some educationists discovered that the UTME was marred by mass failure, they reached out to parents.
Most parents complained that students were given the wrong curriculum, poor facilities at Computer-Based Test centres, poor network and others. They also attributed the mass failure to strict marking by JAMB.
Stakeholders speak on possible causes of mass failure
While they tried to provide possible reasons for the mass failure, some stakeholders argued that such a poor performance had never been recorded in the history of the country
Initially, some days after the results were released, JAMB debunked the allegations of parents that the 2021 UTME had a high mass failure rate. It also denied that the questions set for subjects like Literature in English were based on the wrong syllabus.
In the first week when the results were released, the Head, Public Affairs and Protocol, JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said it was not true that there was mass failure, adding that the questions were based on texts prescribed for the UTME in its syllabus.
“The board ordinarily would not have reacted to the half-truth being peddled by some disgruntled candidates, who were ill-prepared for the examination and who, true to all expectations, performed below the expectations of their guardians, that the Board had based its questions on the wrong syllabus,” he had stated.
But after some days, the JAMB Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, in a live programme on the Nigerian Television Authority, tagged: ‘Weekend File’, admitted that the 2021 UTME results were poorer than those of three years ago.
He blamed the coronavirus pandemic for the poor performance of candidates. The registrar said the pandemic affected the smooth running of the academic calendar.
Oloyede stated, “But this is expected. In Nigeria, we think we do not live in a global community. All informed education experts understand why it is so. They knew the point at which we were in the academic calendar before the examination was taken in 2020 and in 2021.
“Last year, when they took the examination, the students had gone far in their syllabus. But this year, they suffered incomplete academic sessions; they had to cope with emergency online lessons and even many other disturbances like insecurity.”
On the contrary, the Chairman, Association of Tutorial School Operators, Mr Dotun Sodunke, described the 2021 UTME result as the worst, error-filled and a scam.
He complained bitterly that the mass failure was due to an error in JAMB’s marking software, saying it was a deliberate action taken by the board to make candidates fail woefully.
Sodunke also challenged Oloyede to present exam scripts of some candidates for live re-marking on national television.l
He stated, “The mass failure was as a result of marking software error. The UTME was not supposed to come up this year at all because most schools had the capacity to admit only 30 per cent, they will merge 2020 and 2021. For example, UNILAG has given admission to 70 per cent admission seekers in 2020 and some schools are not taking in students.
“Oloyede decided to rake in money for the Federal Government. People who scored 250 in 2020 now scored 109. Parents should stop blaming their children.
“They should show us this year’s UTME answer sheets; the UTME this year is a scam, a fraud of the highest order that we should never witness in this country. He (Oloyede) should prove to us that there is no marking error. He should allow ASTO and some independent professionals to look into the server and randomly select 20 candidates.”
The National Identification Number, which was also made compulsory for registration for the UTME was a big challenge to candidates, who went through harrowing experience to get the NIN across the country.
The ASTO Chairman, Ondo State, Mr Bankole Olufisayo, corroborated this when he said, “The process of registering for the UTME this year is too rigorous. A student will try to create a profile. How do you create a profile? You send your name to 55019. Many of these students have sent it more than 100 times without getting it.
“Later they will refer them to service providers, and from there, refer them again to link their SIM with the NIN. At the NIN centres, many of these students spend days and weeks sleeping at the centres, just because they want to register for JAMB.”
The Head of Schools, Dobar Schools, Ikorodu, Mr Durodola Ajani, also narrated how a candidate, who was supposed to sit for the exam at 7am, could not do so until 6pm, and the candidate could not get home until around 10pm.
He concluded that Internet and telecommunication network failure and power outage were major challenges throughout the period of the examination and these must have also led to the mass failure, adding that some centres, which JAMB approved, were not qualified.
Ajani stated, “About five parents approached me and told me that the issue of network failure was a major challenge. I had a particular student, who was supposed to sit his exam at 7am and could not do so until 6pm, and he got home around 10pm. During the course of his exam, the system would go off and it won’t be able to recall what they were doing before. This also affected candidates’ performances. The event of COVID-19 is not a major factor; students were adequately prepared.
“There are a lot of unqualified centres, which JAMB accredited, but did not have the required facilities for such an exam. They should look into the complaints made by students as regards network failure and power outage. JAMB should brace and augment the marks of the students. They need to bring down the cut-off marks to allow for more access.”
The Chairman of Topdeal College & 3G Educational Services, Ikorodu, Lagos, Mr Oladeji Akinola, said Oloyede wanted to use this year’s UTME to assist private universities to get more students as he also said there was no reason for JAMB to conduct another exam this year.
He stated, “Mass failure has never been in the history of the UTME; what we have is very low. There are some that were given different results. Most of the federal schools have closed admission. I am sure Oloyede wants to help private schools get more students.
“Oloyede already said he did not make money this year and the National Identification Number also did not allow them to prepare very well for the exam; literature books were not recommended; questions were too standard and many of them were crying that it was not their results. Seventy per cent failed, is that how poor our education system is in Nigeria?”
An Ibadan-based parent, Mrs Eno Akinrefon, said, “The percentage of those who failed is more than those who passed. We gathered that some centres had issues with laptops; if JAMB is sure that they want to continue with the use of the CBT centres, they should organise the exam process very well and the technicalities must be worked on.”
A CBT centre owner in Abule-Egba, who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “The students we had for this year’s UTME were unserious. They were too focused on their android phones and they were playful. While teaching them, they would be pressing their phones. I noticed that they were not as studious as the 2020 set, because we started giving them tests and we noticed that their performance was usually poor.”
The Secretary-General, Nigeria Union of Teachers, Dr Mike Ike-Ene, explained that the UTME mass failure was shocking and embarrassing, adding that during the 2020 lockdown, students performed excellently than 2021 results.
He said, “The UTME mass failure is shocking and embarrassing, and one keeps wondering what is happening. Schools ought to have mastered the way UTME questions are set. As good teachers, you should be able deploy permutations to know the likely questions that will come out.
“The CBT centres failed a number of students. Stakeholders should come together to review and brainstorm to know if the UTME has changed its pattern. It does not speak well of us if students fail the UTME woefully; this is not the time to be having mass failure.”
In addition, the Chairman, National Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria, Mr Haruna Danjuma, pointed out that the inability of students to operate computers proficiently was a major cause of the mass failure.
He said, “Some of the candidates are computer illiterates; we don’t have computer laboratories that are equipped for students to practise. COVID-19 also contributed to it. Government should give education special attention. Students should start learning the use of computers from JSS 1. Schools should make computer studies compulsory and parents should put a close watch on their children.”
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