The ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) was marred by persistent system failure in Danbo International School Kaduna.
A NAN correspondent who monitored the exercise in Kaduna on Thursday reported that the examination, which was supposed to last for two hours lasted for four hours at the centre.
750 students wrote the examination at the centre, with the first batch, made up of 250 candidates expected to write from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. but could not start until around 9:00 a.m. and finished around 12:00 p.m.
The second batch that was to commence at 10:00 a.m., could not do so until around 12:00 p.m. because all the computer systems tripped-off few minutes after commencement of the examination due to a power cut.
Some systems were bad and had to be replaced with back up, while others kept going off at different intervals while the students were writing the examination.
Akintola Isaac, one of the candidates, told NAN that his system tripped-off three times, adding that any time it tripped, he started all over again.
Akintola, who sat for the examination for the second time, added that the consistent failure of the system did not allow him to finish the examination before he was asked to leave the hall.
“We barely commenced the examination when all the systems in the hall went off. After getting them running again, my system tripped-off three times and it takes 10 to 20 minutes to get it working again,” he said.
“In the long run, I only finished two papers and was on the third one when I was asked to leave the hall that my time is up.
“When I complained to the JAMB officials and appealed to allow me to write again, they told me there is nothing they can do.
“I’m still appealing to JAMB to give me another opportunity because it is not my fault.”
Hamza Gambo, another UTME candidate, said “the examination commenced around 9:00 a.m. and shortly after we commenced electricity went off and the all the systems shut down.
“After restoring the power which took about 10 minutes, my system tripped-off and forced me to wait for 20 minutes before it was restored, and I had to start all over again,” she said.
“I was on my fourth paper when I was asked to leave the hall. This is unfair.”
Also, Jamilu Iliyasu, who wrote the examination for the first time, complained that the network was bad, adding that the system kept freezing.
“It is a bad experience because it affected my time. I am not happy at all,” iliyasu said.
Similarly, Zainab Abdullahi, who wrote the examination for the third time, said her system was not functional and had to wait for about an hour before she was assigned another one.
But on the contrary, Temitope Adebowale, said after the initial power cut, the exercise went on smoothly.
“This is my first time and I am confident of scoring between 280 and 300 points,” she said.
When contacted, the JAMB official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the system failure to NAN.
“As you can see, the second set is supposed to enter the hall around 10:00 a.m. after the first set has finished but they are just entering the hall now and it is already 12:00 p.m.,” she said.
“I just pray that what happened with the first set will not happen again.”
And when asked about what JAMB would do about Akintola Isaac’s case, she said: “It is officials at the JAMB Headquarters that will decide his fate.
“Ours is to write a report, indicating what transpired at the course of the examination for them to take the necessary action,” the official added.
Also, the human resource manager of Danbo International School, who refused to give his name, confirmed that the electricity in the hall went off due to technical failure.
“When they commenced the examination, we received a complain that the air conditioning system in the hall is not working and the hall is stuffy,” said the HR.
“I asked one of our technicians to fix it and he went to the switchboard to see if there is electricity in the wires that feed the air conditioning system. He didn’t even open the board when the light went off.
“And for the systems that were bad, we were able to replace them with some backup system that we kept for such an emergency situation.”
Meanwhile, the examination went on smoothly at the Kaduna State University (KASU) centre, where the examination took place on time without a hitch.
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