The Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) into Nigeria’s tertiary institutions will be wholly computer-based by 2015, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has said.
The registrar of JAMB, Dibu Ojerinde, stated this in Akure on Monday at an advocacy campaign on the advantages of the Computer-Based Test (CBT).
According to the registrar, “any person who can use the mobile phone can also take part in the test.’’
Mr. Ojerinde said that candidates in the 2014 UTME could still choose between CBT and the normal “pencil and paper’’ method.
“After 2014, there will be no option for any candidate to choose again. CBT is the key. The world is changing and technology has reached an advanced stage.
“The way to go now is technology. If we don’t want to remain in the same place,’’ he said.
Mr. Ojerinde, who said that there were enough facilities for the CBT in Ondo state, also made it clear that candidates who chose to write the next UTME in the state would have no option than the CBT.
“With the FUTA Centre, the Adeyemi College of Education (ACE), Ondo and the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic , Owo, there is no reason for anybody to write UTME by the PTP (Pen-To, Paper),’’ he said.
Mr. Ojerinde said that the board would encourage candidates in Akure and environs to take the CBT because of facilities at FUTA, Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, and Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo,
The registrar assured that the exam would be free from hackers “because the board will not go through the service of another institution.’’
No fewer than 100 secondary school students from 10 schools in Akure sat for a mock version of the CBT at the Information and Technology Resource Centre, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA).
Immediately after the test all the candidates got their results before they logged out of the system.
