The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) may be considering a new regulation that would force applicants who seek to take the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to utilize their mobile phones and other personal devices.
Speaking at the 2023 Policy Meeting on Admissions to Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria on Saturday in Abuja, the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed the information.
He based the suggested strategy on the increased logistical costs associated with conducting the UTME throughout the country.
Oloyede claims that setting up a CBT center in Kaduna state cost the Board more than N1.2 billion, especially when it came to buying the laptops that test-takers use.
Candidates who desire to take the UTME in the future may be required to bring their own gadgets to the examination room under the “Bring Your Own Device” policy.
Oloyede bemoaned the applicants’ desire for a university degree at the expense of polytechnics and colleges of education.
He advised prospective students to look at other tertiary education choices while denouncing the country’s significant gap in admission quotas.
“On the way forward, we are looking at BOYD – the direction for JAMB Students to bring their telephones,” the board said in the presentation made public by Oloyede. Although it decreases capital expenditure, it does little to promote digital literacy. To address the criminal element while institutions resolve the wrongdoing, a mobile examinational malpractice tribunal will be established.
“We will collaborate with security personnel and pertinent authorities to combat cybercrimes; we’ll use the machinery and fund them so they may draw on their candidate expertise. Some services are being moved to the registration site in order to avoid extortion Exams using open books to deter cheating.
To deter impersonation, there has to be political resolve and coordinated measures to develop a unified identity for all NIMC people.