The Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) Computer-Based Tests, CBT, on Monday went smoothly across urban parts of Anambra State, despite earlier fears that the Monday’s Sit-at-home will negatively affect the exercise.
Mondays are observed as sit-at-home in many parts of the Southeastern Nigeria, in compliance with separatist group’s directive as part of efforts to register their grievance over the continued detention of IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Enforcement of the directive has been bloody in many parts of Anambra state, with human lives lost and property destroyed.
TNC Correspondent who visited JAMB-approved CBT centres in Awka, Onitsha and environs, reports that the exercise witnessed impressive turnout.
However, it was difficult to get to rural parts of the state, where enforcement of the sit-at-home order has been serious in recent times, to know the situation there.
Meanwhile, students and educationists have stressed the need for JAMB to approve more CBT centers, to accommodate the increasing number of candidates who sit for the exams.
Some of the centres approved for the examination, were seen to be filled as the candidates were taken in batches.
A student who sat for the exams, Miss Festus Goodness, observed that due to the massive crowd that came for the exams, the entire process was cumbersome.
“The entire process was just so stressful and at some point, one even runs the risk of forgetting everything they have read.
“I hope JAMB will do better next time,” she enthused.
A teacher who brought some students for the Exams, Echezona Benson, advocated for more centres and their establishment in other parts of the state for easy access to residents.
He also called on JAMB to also consider shifting the examination time down from the 7am time, to enable candidates get to the venues and prepare.
“JAMB needs to consider moving the exam time from 7am down to maybe 9am, or even increase the number of days the examination is taken to accommodate the candidates.
“This 7am time is exposing these students to a lot of risks as many of them have to travel to the exam regions and sleep over, in environments they don’t know anything about.
“This can pose some kind of danger to the safety of the students,” he observed.
Mr Benson while commending the National Identity Number, NIN initiative introduced to the scheme, also suggested that the process be reviewed to ensure that candidates can get their results before leaving the CBT centres.
