Candidates forced to abandon WASSCE for UTME

Some candidates writing the ongoing 2019 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for schools were not able to sit for their examination on Thursday because it clashed with the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) which started the same day with three sessions scheduled daily.

JAMB and WAEC had promised to sought out the clash in timetables which affects about 23 Entrepreneurship/Trade WASSCE subjects scheduled to hold during the six days that the UTME would last.

SS3 candidates writing the WASSCE were scheduled to write Animal Husbandry and Store Management today (April 11, 2019) but because the time clashed with the UTME, missed the examination.

A parent who does not wish to be named, said his daughter and about 20 others at Providence High School, Fagba, could not sit for Animal Husbandry scheduled to start 9.30am – 30 minutes after they were to write their UTME at the Lagooz CBT Centre, O’Riley Agege, Lagos.

“My daughter could not write Animal Husbandry today. She was to write UTME at Lagooz School by 9 a.m. But the exam did not start until 11am. By the time she got back to her school, she did not meet the invigilators for (Animal Husbandry). She was not the only one affected.

“There were about 20 of them. But their teachers told them they could get a chance to do an alternative version of the paper on the 15th,” he said.

A teacher at Winners Treasure Kids School, Ketu, also said the clashing timetables did not affect most pupils in her school.

A pupil from another school said nobody was affected in his school because none of them offered the subjects written on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the UTME went well in centres monitored by The Nation.

At Connection Computer training Institute, Cele, Ojo, accreditation and biometrics of candidates started late and was slow.

There were four sessions for the exam – 7am, 9am, 1:30pm and 3:00pm.

Miss Shittu Ronke, a candidate in the first batch, said the examination went well save for minor delays.
‘’I started the examination after 8 and finished after 10. I am a science student. I did English, Chemistry, Biology and physics. The physics was hard for me but I did my best. I am happy because my computer did not trip off during the examination. After the examination, we were told to stay in a room from there we queued up and thumb printed out’’.

Mr Kalu Uche, another candidate in the second batch, also said his system did not malfunction.

However, a female candidate, who was meant to write Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English 7am, missed her examination.

She said she was late because she lived too far from the CBT Centre. She got to the centre some minutes to 8am.

The candidate who identified herself as Oge, blamed her lateness on traffic.

‘’I stay at Ota. I left the house around to 6am this morning. On my way, there was traffic. When registering, I picked a centre closer to my place which is Festac but I was posted here. I was told to write a letter to the Jamb Zonal Regional Office if I have a reasonable excuse,’’ she said.

A parent who simply called himself Mr Orji, said stopping Oge from writing the exam was pure wickedness.

‘’With this new order now, a girl missed her examination and there is no way or remedy for it. She was asked to write a letter to the jamb headquarters office. For me, if they had allowed her to write before immediately she came, she will almost be true by now. It is just pure wickedness,” he said.

Speaking on the conduct of the examination, Mr Kayode Gbenga, a parent urged Jamb to improve on their biometrics.

‘’With what I have seen, JAMB is trying. But they should improve on their biometrics. In my opinion, thumb printing out should be done immediately after the examination. Why do the candidates have to stay in a room, queue up before they thumbprint out. It is a long process,’’ he said.