Arrest parents found near UTME CBT centres during UTME – JAMB

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has directed all Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre owners to arrest any parent or guardian found near any of their facilities during the 2024 UTME.

The order was given by the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Isaq Oloyede, during a virtual meeting on Wednesday with operators and owners of the CBT centres.

A statement by the spokesman of JAMB, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, said the measure is to prevent some parents from intruding into the conduct of the exam and disrupting activities at the centres.

Over time, it has become clear that many of these intruding parents facilitate examination infractions, necessitating this measure, he said.

The statement also highlighted that some miscreants also disguise themselves as parents to infiltrate the centres and perpetrate all forms of infractions.

According to the existing national policy on education, a candidate for the examination must have attained the age of 17 years.

“Therefore, it is evident that these parents have not allowed their wards to pass through the classes as defined in the document; hence, the determination to follow their wards to the examination venue with the aim of compromising examination officials.

“At any rate, it is clear to any discerning observer that these parents deserve to be sanctioned, as they have obviously smuggled underage children into the ranks of those scheduled to sit for the examination.

“If a session experienced any technical challenge, candidates in subsequent sessions would be allowed to sit their examination as scheduled, while the candidates in the challenged session would be rescheduled for the last session of the day, the following day, or even further depending on the centre schedules.

“Candidates are to take note of this so that they will remain calm in the event of any disruption.

“In this way, any candidate or parent who disrupts any subsequent session on account of the failure of his/her session would be disqualified outright from taking the examination,” it said.