Candidates lament delay, system failure as 2023 UTME begins

Some candidates decried technical glitches on Tuesday as the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) commenced across the country.

The affected candidates and their parents, who spoke with NAN in Ibadan, Oyo state, called on the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to consider those unable to write the exam due to the difficulties encountered.

Jumoke Ajayi, one of the parents, lamented that some of the candidates came out of the exam hall crying.

“The systems were not working, the first batch that went in for the examination at 6.30 a.m were unable to access the examination as most of them went home crying and wailing,” she said.

“Some candidates scheduled for 6.30 a.m were still inside while those scheduled for other sessions as at 9.00 a.m and 12 noon were waiting.

“The candidates experienced the same problem during the mock examination. One would have thought that things should have been taken care of at this same centre, PEFTI CBT Centre, Sango.”

Idris Raji, one of the affected candidates, said the computer systems including laptops allocated to them  were not working properly at his centre.

“I was one of the few lucky candidates who were able to access the examination, even at that, the system keeps prompting us to reconnect,” he said.

“This is a limiting factor as time was already going and this issue would not be considered by JAMB as it is not aware of what we were faced with here. We are really suffering as candidates.”

Ayobami Adeoyo, an official at PEFTI CBT, however, assured that those affected would be rescheduled for another day.

“We had issues at the first session, but we are able to overcome them by God’s grace and those affected would be rescheduled. We have put down their names and this will not affect other sessions,” the official said.

The situation was the same at Yinbol College, Orogun in Ibadan. Parents who accompanied their wards to the exam centre described the conduct of the exercise as “unsatisfactory”.

Olajumoke Adeleke, JAMB zonal director in Ibadan, said the exam has been peaceful across the 39 centres in the state so far.

She added that the technical issues experienced by candidates have been properly handled.

“We have peaceful exercise, everything is calm, we thank God,” she said.

JAMB originally fixed April 29 for the exam but changed the date to April 25.

The exercise is scheduled to end on May 3.