JAMB: Candidates to blame for mass UTME failure not our syllabus

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says candidates’ ill-preparedness is responsible for the mass failure recorded in the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The board has started releasing results for this year’s UTME, which commenced on June 19 and is expected to end by July 3.

But some of the candidates who had taken the exam had accused JAMB of using the old syllabus to set questions for this year’s edition of the exercise.

Some of the applicants also claimed the mix-up in the syllabus was responsible for the mass failure recorded so far.

Reacting on Tuesday in a statement by Fabian Benjamin, its spokesman, JAMB said that the mass failure is a result of the ill-preparedness of candidates who sat for the exams.

The exam body also said contrary to claims, all the questions are based on texts prescribed for the UTME in its syllabus.

JAMB disclosed that such claims are being peddled by some candidates who are hunted by the fact that they performed below the expectations of their guardians.

The body said to ensure that its syllabus is accessible to all candidates sitting for its examination, it made the material available on three platforms.

It noted that the platforms include its Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System (IBASS), a computer disk which is given to candidates after completion of registration, and the link as provided with the candidates’ profile code.

“It is not automatic that the NECO/WAEC syllabus should transform into JAMB’s otherwise there would not have been a need for a separate syllabus for the UTME,” it added.

“The UTME is not school-based and not an achievement test but a selection or ranking test which ordinarily does not require a syllabus and does not have room for fail or pass as in achievement tests.

“The rumour of mass failure is a fluke and a campaign by those whose source of illicit income has been further blocked.