Writing By Isma’il Adamu ; Editing By Godwin Duru
Some parents, guardians and students sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Katsina State have called on the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to provide more CBT centers to conveniently accommodate JAMB candidates in subsequent UTME examinations in the state.
They made the call in separate interactions with our correspondent who visited some centers in Katsina during the ongoing UTME examinations.
Out of the 2.2 million registered JAMB candidates nationwide, Katsina State has 37,900 candidates who were scrambled into 19 accredited CBT centers across five local government areas while 29 other local government areas have no centers.
Eight of the centers were in Katsina metropolis while 11 others were in four other local government areas of Daura, Dutsinma, Malumfashi and Funtua,
This according to parents and students that spoke to Radio Nigeria, made the examination inconvenient for candidates that had to travel from remote local government areas to the city centers to sit for the exams.
A candidate from Sabuwa local government area said he had to travel for about 100 km to Funtua where he passed the night as his examination was scheduled for seven in the morning.
Our correspondent observed that most students had to pass the night in the towns where their examination was scheduled despite the absence of any arrangements for accommodation.
Meanwhile, students sat for the examination in batches as some of the centers were not spacious enough to accommodate up to 150 students at a time.
While some students complained of technical failures with the networks on their computers in some centers, others said the network was smooth.
Meanwhile, senior officials at the state JAMB office could not be reached for comment on issues around malfunctioning computers, the low number of CBT centers and posting of candidates to distant locations, as the officials were mostly out on supervision during the examinations.
Isma’il Adamu
