The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has issued a fresh standardization rules to licensed operators of Computer Based Test (CBT) centres ahead of the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) examination.
In the new rule contained in a document obtained by The Nation on Wednesday in Abuja, CBT Centre operators are required to upgrade their facilities to accommodate minimum of 250 candidates.
This is against previous practice where CBT centres operated under different capacities, with tendency for manual distribution of candidates, prejudice and sharp practices by operators, local thugs and disloyal interns.
According to the document, JAMB and proprietors of CBT centres agreed on the issues of standardization of all CBT centres, in terms of capacity, equipment, materials, competent human resources and security appliances including Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) systems.
JAMB, in the document, warned that failure to comply with the new set of rules would result in automatic disqualification of the operator and outright withdrawal of its license.
In this regard, the board has begun an upgrade of all its 11 CBT centres across Nigeria from their previous capacity to 250 as stipulated by the new rules.
Also, the four new CBT centers built by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) have been upgraded to minimum standard.
JAMB spokesman, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, said the recent decision by the management to install CCTV cameras in all CBT centres was to curtail examination malpractices by closely monitoring examination activities in all the centres.
“In order to eliminate unnecessary waste and stress involved in travelling to Bwari, the Board’s headquarters in Abuja, for one issue or the other, the Board has successfully automated the following services: late registration, change of course/institution, printing of admission letter, printing of result slip and correction of data,” Dr. Benjamin said.
(The Nation)
