To start with, who do we actually blame for the mass failure we have experienced in the Joint Admission Matriculation Examinations of 2024 and 2025? Do we blame only our children who may not have put in their best to make their parents proud and feel satisfied that the sweat of what they might have labored on their wards are not in vain or, do we blame the examiner for failure to live up to expectations by providing the correct and necessary materials for the students to adequately prepare for the examinations?
That, less than 25% of the students that sat for the examinations crossed the border line of 200 over 400, the total aggregate is an abysmal failure for both the students and the examiner (JAMB).
In other words, that less than 400, 000 thousands students out of more than 1.9 million students that registered for the examination got above 200 scorecard is a colossal failure and, who do we blame for this, if not the students and the examiner; JAMB.
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The question is; is the examiner, JAMB truly making available the right materials for the students to adequately prepare for the examinations?
Equally so, is the examiner, JAMB ensuring the integrity of the examination is intact, so as to make sure the examination transparent in order to cast out any kind of suspicion that the examination is being manipulated by the Board? This is not to cast aspersion but, people may be doubting the integrity of the examination because, in a digital age (information technology), why can’t the students get the final result of their examinations immediately they click on the word ‘submit’ after they have finished their exams? How come they have to wait for days when in a digital age, the system can be programmed for the students to immediately have their results at hand, at the click of the word ‘submit’ as it is been practiced in the United States and other countries? I
What about the glitches that many of the students are made to experience during the examinations that has already set up some of the them for outright failure? Can JAMB do the needful to fix the issue of computer glitches to a very high insignificant percentage because nothing can be 100% perfect. Yes, we give room for inevitable human error.
One of the greatest challenges that many of the students are made to face is the inability for the Board to set a time line and exams center that are suitable for many of our children. How do you explain setting exams for 6:30 am when you have to travel from your home in Festac town to far away Badagry to take your exams? It should be noted that from Festac Town to Badagry in Lagos state is 31.4 miles and it is 1hr 24 minutes traveling time. Is this proximity good enough to catch up with the traffic gridlock in Lagos State; how do we reconcile this with the rising surge of insecurity across the country?
Methinks, setting exams time for 6:30 am in Nigeria of today is very absurd. Is JAMB not already setting up the students for failure before writing the examinations? This is because, the stress and fear of getting to the exam center to meet up with the rules and regulations of taking the examination as set up by JAMB are psychologically stressful enough with effects that may affect the function of the brain. It may make your memory to go blank for the examination that is supposed to be conducted in a conducive environment, including logistics and transportation.
Suffice it to say, the duration of time to take the examinations is less than 3 hrs with additional 2 hrs to run the biometric and establish the identity of each candidate for the exam, 5 hrs in total.
Sir, this institution (JAMB) that you are currently steering the leadership as the Registrar is one of the pillars of our idealogical foundation that sustains, maintains, strengthens and develops our tertiary institutions towards building a super structure for true nation building and in view of the abysmal failures in both 2024 and 2025, the urgent need to re-engineer the Board and change the trajectory for our children to perform credible well in the future Joint Admission Matriculation Examination, at least to have nothing less than fifty percent performance cannot be overemphasized.
So far, your performance as the Registrar of JAMB is quite encouraging with some of the new innovations like biometric, digital device for testing, financial accountability and probity and others. However, these are just means to an end; the means must justify the end. Nigerians are not satisfied or happy with an end result that only has less than 25% of their children that sat for the 2025 Joint Admission Matriculation Examination crossing the threshold of 200 over a total aggregate of 400.
It is high time you bring all stakeholders, including educators, Ministry of Education, School Proprietors, Parent Teachers Association, IT experts and all other relevant bodies together to brainstorm on how best to tackle the abysmal failures we have had in the past two years; 2024 and 2025.
In conclusion, as the Registrar of Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB), nothing is better than a legacy of crossing the threshold of fifty percent scorecard in the future Joint Admission Matriculation Examinations.
– Adenekan is the Editor of Shekinah International Magazine
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