Innocent or Framed? JAMB Declares UTME Candidates “Not Guilty as Charged”

Ebule plans to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering at the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, FUPRE, Effurun, located in the Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State.

Remember that 75% of candidates who took the recently finished UTME scored below 200, with less than 1% nationwide earning more than 300 points, according to a report released by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, or JAMB.

The typical Nigerian secondary school student is taught by teachers who are underqualified, underappreciated, and underrewarded. They also operate in a system that is woefully underfunded and has subpar lab equipment. Instead of assisting pupils in learning and becoming fully educated, teachers place an excessive amount of emphasis on preparing them for exams. Helping kids comprehend the information they are absorbing receives little to no attention.

Many educators lack a basic understanding of the subjects they teach and are unable to show pupils how the ideas they impart may be used in practical contexts. Students are not given the support they need to develop the analytical skills and knowledge-synthesizing abilities that UTME demands.

To exacerbate the situation, we demand that they use a computer to demonstrate their knowledge. We are aware that the majority of applicants for the UTME and WASSCE have not attended educational institutions where computers are common teaching and learning aids. It is not credible to claim that they simply need a few keys to answer the test’s questions. Digital gadgets are a source of anxiety. As they become accustomed to you, you improve.

We are likely to discover that the last UTME was plagued by serious infrastructure issues if scientific research is done on the test. Therefore, even though they had the necessary topic knowledge, some candidates may not have performed well.

Nobody should deny the claim that social media is distracting students with a wave of their hand. Indeed, a lot of students use social media at the expense of their academic performance. Why is it the case? For many of them, academics are meaningless. The majority of our classrooms lack engagement. The majority of educators lack the pedagogical resources necessary to inspire students to love learning. In an atmosphere where many firms still hire based on academic credentials rather than problem-solving skills, parents, instructors, and schools are very concerned about pupils passing tests to obtain the credentials for further education and meal tickets.

In a nation where school dropouts go on to become wealthy and powerful politicians, education has also lost credibility. In a nation where public institutions have lost their credibility, many students are looking for online jobs to help them pay their tuition and put food on the table for their families. As a parent and researcher in the global education sector, I am aware that pupils can be taught to use their electronic gadgets for academic and moral pursuits. Instructors are not all-knowing. In their classes, they ought to serve as facilitators. To learn from a worldwide audience and develop their creativity and innovation, students might be taught to use their digital gadgets.

Care should be taken in the effort to ban cell phones in classrooms. To be productive and globally competitive in today’s society, educators and students alike require digital gadgets. We can teach our teachers and kids how to utilize their phones effectively if we are ready to give it a shot. I accomplish this in every setting where I have held leadership positions in education and teaching. We ought to break the tendency to discount things that we do not comprehend. Seeking assistance when necessary is a requirement of humility.

Nigeria treats teachers poorly, even though they are essential to the educational system.

Many teachers work in schools managed by businesses that put profit before education, and the majority of private schools in Nigeria pay rates that are lower than the legally mandated minimum wage. We don’t have enough qualified teachers in chemistry, physics, English literature, mathematics, and the English language.

Education classes are not taken by exceptional students. Students find it difficult to study when there are insufficiently qualified professors teaching these fundamental subjects. We have not given students much, yet we have high expectations for them. According to research, Nigerian teenagers enjoy holidays since they do not find learning enjoyable in settings where it is not practiced.

There are numerous disciplines in the modern world that Nigerian schools do not introduce their kids to. This contributes to the high dropout rate in Nigerian medical schools and the fact that, after years of arduous study, those who succeed in becoming doctors leave for the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Middle East.

As a nation, we can do better. We are failing our kids and holding them responsible for the shortcomings of our subpar educational system. As accused, the adolescents who took the most recent JAMB UTME are innocent. They suffer from systemic problems that can be resolved.

We should stop assigning blame to victims and absolving the grown-ups in charge of our educational system. Pupils who receive quality instruction and gain knowledge from their studies are unlikely to engage in exam misconduct.

That’s what research evidence indicates. Exam misconduct will be promoted by systems that value academic credentials and base employment and further education possibilities on test results. That is also supported by research evidence. Let’s get Nigeria the proper educational philosophy. Let’s provide incentives for exceptional youth to enroll in school courses. Let’s honor educators and provide them fair compensation for their vital contribution to the advancement of the country.

Let’s stop mistreating educated individuals so that our kids will be inspired to devote their time and energy to learning for its own sake. Students shouldn’t be forced to attend school to receive meal tickets. Just for the sake of learning, they ought to be attending school. There will undoubtedly be other advantages to studying. This is the case in the Scandinavian region, where teachers’ primary focus is not on exams. If we want to, we can do it correctly.