Exam Malpractice: “The Greatest Problem We Have Is Not Candidates But Their Parents” – JAMB

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said one of the greatest challenges it has is the involvement of parents of candidates in their children and wards’ exam malpractices and fraud.

The disclosure was made by the registrar of the board, Ishaq Oloyede, during a meeting with the Itse Sagay led Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption in Abuja on Wednesday

The JAMB Boss described as alarming the desperation of parents and level at which they go to ensure that their children get admissions at all cost, irrespective of the consequences involved.

Oloyede further pointed out that the situation has continued to give the board consistent concern.

According to him, the examination act of the board stipulates that parents are not allowed into the examination hall “but you find parents arranging mercenaries to write for their wards.”

“The greatest problem we have is with the parents, I do not have problems with the candidates. But the parents have gone haywire,” he said.

“They compromise the process because while the students are writing the examinations, you see some of the parents seeking for any assistance that can be given to make their children pass.”

“A candidate was caught here for impersonation. He agreed he did it that he was writing for his brother and their mother was aware. And when a call was put through to the mother, she said she is a prophetess. This is an example among others,” he said.

Mr Oloyede decried the use of religion to achieve non-religious issues.

He also recalled that during the 2018 UTME, some parents of candidates who were caught for engaging in malpractices did not play the proper parental role.

According to him, while one mother requested that her daughter’s mark be automatically increased because a Test Centre operator tried to molest her, another mother pushed her eldest son to write the examination for the younger one.

“Some parents go as far as paying huge sums of money into fraudulent accounts online to upgrade their children’s results. We have advertised recently, that anybody who pays into such accounts would be tracked and disqualified because these fraudsters openly advertise that if you want help on JAMB pay into certain accounts.

“Parents are paying into these accounts but we have involved the Department of State Services and the police and some of them have been arrested already.”

The act, he said, has continued to give the board a second view of what transpires outside its domain, through which it is able to monitor the illegal operations.