JAMB Bans ATM Cards, Watches, Erasers, Others At Exam Centres

Emmanuel AmudaMarch 19, 2019

0 1 minute read

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has added Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards, wrist watches and erasers to the list of items banned from examination centres in the forthcoming Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The Board also said only candidates who are successful in biometric verification would be allowed to sit for the examination.

JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, made this known, in Abuja, yesterday, at a stakeholders’ meeting; ahead of the commencement of the Computer Based Test (CBT) on April 11.

He said the Board introduced the innovations to curb examination malpractice as well as ensure the integrity of the examination.

“To ensure that our examinations meet best global practices, the board has prohibited use of the following items during its examinations.

“These are: Watches; pens or biros; mobile phones or similar electronic devices, spy-reading glasses; calculators; hard disks or similar storage devices, books or any reading material; cameras; recorders and microphones.

“Others include ear pieces, ink or pen readers, smart lenses, smart rings or jewellery, smart buttons, Bluetooth devices, key holders, erasers and ATM cards,” Oloyede said.

He added that the Board would continue to strive to eliminate unwholesome practices during its examinations, which necessitated the biometric verification of candidates, to curb impersonation as well as the introduction of Closed-Circuit Television cameras in its centres nationwide.

JAMB also insisted it will continue to be hard on tutorial centres and some unaccredited CBT centres “because they are often involved in irregularities and outright breach of registration and exam order.”

Oloyede said some institutions have been sanctioned and more would also be sanctioned for violating agreed rules of engagement.

As regards innovation for 2019, JAMB said it has increased the number of questions for each subject to one million, in addition to separate indicator for the deaf (mute); to differentiate them for special attention at the examination centres.

He said JAMB has enhanced its monitoring system so it could “give precise record of centres that registered candidates, time of registration, who registered the candidate, the computer system used and location of registration.”