The Joint Admission and
Matriculation Board (JAMB) has
reportedly placed a ban on the use of
16 electronic devices at the UTME
mock examination which is to hold
on February 26, 2018, across
different venues within the
federation.
According to the memo released by
JAMB on Thursday, UTME officials
manning operations at different
examination centres have been
authorised to inspect items such as
eyeglasses (which could be a
spyglass), wrist-watches,
sophisticated pens, calculators and
any other electronic devices that
could seemingly compromise the
orderliness of the examination.
Officials are also allowed to
confiscate any devices as they deem
fit.
However, this mandate isn’t
restricted to students. Punch reports
that according to the memo issued by
the UTME Monitoring Groups,
JAMB’s officials and all other
authorised persons are also bound
by the same rule. Hence, if they are
found with related items in the
examination hall, they would be seen
as saboteurs. Necessary actions
would be meted upon such
defaulters.
The banned 16 items include:
1. Wrist watches
2. Smart pen/biro,
3. Mobile phones or similar
electronic devices,
4. Spy reading glasses which
should be scrutinised,
5. Calculators or similar
electronic devices,
6. USB, CD, hard disks and/or
similar storage devices.
7. Books or any reading/writing
material,
8. Cameras,
9. Recorders,
10. Microphones,
11. Earpieces,
12. Ink/pen readers,
13. Smart lenses,
14. Smart rings/jewellery,
15. Smart buttons and
16. Bluetooth devices
The 2017 JAMB examination was
plagued with lots of malpractice
cases. Officials reportedly accepted
bribes from students, 48 CBT centres
were blacklisted and over 10,000
students were caught in malpractice
in Anambra alone.
JAMB Registrar, Professor Is-haq
Oloyede, had in 2017 stated the
board’s intention to truncate any
activities of malpractice from both
from students and operators. This
initiative is probably a spinoff of
that decision and could, in a way,
prove effective, if JAMB’s detection
equipment is solid enough.
JAMB/UTME Monitoring is in
collaboration with the Civil Society
Group (CSG) — a group inaugurated
by JAMB Registrar — to carry out this
mandate at all verified JAMB centres.