2023 UTME And Matters Arising

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on 25 April commenced the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) nationwide. 

The examination will run for about eight days and is expected to be concluded on May 3rd, 2023, to pave the way for the registration of Direct Entry (DE) candidates.

As the UTME clocked day 6 on Monday, more than 947,000 candidates out of the 1.6 million that registered, have so far sat for the examinations. According to data obtained from JAMB, about 1.6 million candidates across over 708 centres are participating in the examination, against the 1.7 million registered candidates that sat for it last year.

This year, in preparation for the 2023 UTME, JAMB conducted a mock examination in April to familiarise candidates with the examination process and check their readiness, as well as give candidates the opportunity to have hands-on experience of the Computer-Based Test (CBT).

However, some candidates could not sit the mock examination on account of some technical challenges occasioned by some new features being tried by the Board, which promoted JAMB to rescheduled Mock-UTME, held on Tuesday, 18th April, 2023. 

I have gathered that unlike last year where some challenges including technical glitches and disruption of power in some locations, hindered some candidates from accessing their examination centres on time, this year, the examination was also delayed in some Computer Based Test (CBT) centres as a result of technical glitches.

I’ve also gathered that about 100 centres out of the 708 centres participating in the 2023 UTME exercise across the country, experienced technical challenges that prevented their allotted candidates from successfully taking their examination. 

A candidate, who identified himself as Kelvin expressed worry over his performance, as a result of consistent disruption of power at the Capville School CBT centre, located in the Gwarimpa area of Abuja. He appealed to JAMB to find a way to compensate candidates who face such challenges while sitting for their exams.

“I answered the questions to the best of my ability, but I think the constant shutdown of computers as a result of power that was not stable greatly affected my performance. I think JAMB can do better, maybe by extending the time given since the problem was not caused by candidates”, he said.

To curtail the effect of those who missed the examination due to technical challenges, JAMB spokesperson, Dr Fabian Benjamin said all candidates who could not sit the UTME on account of technical challenges, have been rescheduled, saying that the series of challenges encountered were on account of some novel features deployed by the Board to safeguard the sanctity of the examination.