Kebbi parents call for scraping of JAMB
Haruna Aliyu usman, Birnin Kebbi
Anguish, pains, frustration and despair best describe the feelings of parents whose children were affected by this years’ mass failure recorded in the just concluded Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board Examination (JAMB).
An opinion poll carried out by correspondent, revealed that the examination body contributed to the mass failure as it only paid attention to meeting the huge remittances it makes into government’s coffers instead of the basic rudiments that will facilitate success in the examination.
A mother, Zainab Abdul said JAMB lied from the onset when it said it had reduced application fees, as prospective applicants ended up around N6, 000 or even above, instead of the N5, 000, declaring that the reduction was a mere paper work and media propaganda.
She also condemned the decentralization of examination centres, stressing that parents were at the receiving end because they had to transport their wards and pay for their accommodation, adding that the imitative exposed candidates to the dangers of kidnapping and avoidable accidents.
Zainab urged the federal government to scrap JAMB because it has outlived its usefulness, as the examination body denies determined and brainy applicants from getting admissions into various tertiary institutions in the country.
According to her, she was angry hearing the JAMB register general bragging about how much he remitted into the federation account amid the mass failure in the examination.
Another aggrieved parent, Usman Bala accused the government of using the UTME to reduce the number of applicants since it has failed to give employment to the huge number of graduates, adding that JAMB is a non- profit making body that should focus more on the reason for its establishment.
Similarly, Samira Abdullahi alleged that the north is short-changed educationally and JAMB is used to achieve the objective, just as she decried the introduction of the computer -based examination adding that candidates from villages can’t operate computers, but can however, write and pass the examination.
“Even in cities, lots of people are not computer literate and that does not mean they are not educated or cannot sit and pass an examination,” she stated and urged the federal government to change the modus operandi of the examination body in the interest of equity and justice.
