The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has faulted a report that it had dumped the Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.

The board restated its determination to continue all its examinations using CBT mode.

A statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by the spokesperson of JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, said the clarification became necessary “following the misleading caption in the front page of Nation of Thursday March 30 2017. with the headline: “JAMB dumps CBT, adopts eight keys.”

He said, “The headline was not only misleading but capable of causing panic, distortion and confusion in the minds of Nigerians particularly the candidates planning to take the UTME of a well-conceived CBT examination which the Board was consolidating on the gains and feat recorded.”

JAMB registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, had on Wednesday issued a statement at Arewa House, Kaduna, at a strategic planning retreat on monitoring and supervision of 2017 UTME.

Mr. Oloyede disclosed the board’s decision to adopt the use of the eight keys instead of the mouse.

He said: “From the general feedback on the adoption of the Computer Based Test mode, we have noted the challenge of computer low level literacy of some candidates, especially with the phobia for the mouse.

“This has been responsible partly for the call by some people for reversal to the Paper and Pencil Test mode. In order to ensure equity and level playground for all candidates taking the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, the Board has designed a system that will allow candidates use only eight (8) keys without the use of the mouse.

“All the candidates need to do is to press the letters A, B, C, D for responses (answer) to questions and keys:

P = Previous question

N = Next question

S = Submit responses when candidate has finished examination

R = Reverse (do not intend to go further to submit again)”

However, both the eight keys and the mouse are components of the CBT mode but media reports misconstrued this, he said.

The JAMB spokesperson while chiding those media reports said, “In our attempt to make CBT friendly, JAMB introduced the use of 8 keys without a mouse. This we have explained to Nigerians and all stakeholders at the just concluded strategic planning Retreat on “Supervision and Evaluation of the conduct of the 2017 UTME in Kaduna, where we had the privilege of having over 100 distinguished scholars from the academia, civil society and other critical stakeholders.”

Mr. Benjamin pointed that nowhere was the issue of JAMB dumping the CBT contemplated during the retreat.

“We see this embarrassing caption as deliberate effort to thwart the Board’s noble intention. The question we are asking is on what platform will the 8 keys be?

The spokesperson asked Nigerians to disregard the report.

Source: Premium Times