(Breaking news) 2018 UTME: JAMB assures candidates of getting good grades

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has assured candidates who wrote the recent Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), of good grades.The national coordinator, JAMB Equal Opportunity Group, Professor Peter Okebukola, said the results will be out on Tuesday, March 20
Okebukola said this year’s examination generally had been adjudged more successful when compared to what obtained in 2017 in terms of logistics and quality
The national coordinator, JAMB Equal Opportunity Group, Professor Peter Okebukola, says the 2018 UTME (Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination) exercise will produce good results.
Okebukola, a former executive secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), said this on Monday, March 19, as 127 visually impaired candidates in Southwest commenced their exam the Distance Learning Institute (DLI), of the University of Lagos (UNILAG).The results are expected to be released on Tuesday on JAMB portal www.jamb.org.ng. His group is responsible for administering the 2018 UTME to both the prisoners and the blind candidates nationwide.Not less than 340 visually impaired candidates registered for the examination nationwide. In a conversation with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Okebukola noted that already the group had on Saturday conducted the examination for those in the prisons.
He said the visually impaired candidates listed for the examination nationwide have been assembled in “high grade hotels” with very good feeding and transportation arrangements and other logistics that would make them feel comfortable before and after the examination.
He noted that the two-day examination (March 19 and March 20) would be taken through the dictation mode as was obtained in 2017.
Okebukola said: “For now, they will have to make do with the dictation mode as the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), organisers of the examination, is working towards a suitable CBT mode soon.
"The software we have now that comes with the Braillenote Apex machine is not Nigerian enough for their comprehension. So, we are developing a software that will have a Nigerian inbuilt intonation. We are hopeful that before the commencement of the 2019 UTME, we would gave moved quite far in the development of the software.”

According to the former NUC scribe, this year’s examination generally had been adjudged more successful when compared to what obtained in 2017 in terms of logistics and quality.
The don said: “When I talk of the quality of the examination, I am talking in terms of the manner of presentation through this platform.
“We expect that the candidates will come out with good grades and those who are successful in both the UTME and the Post UTME and meet the criteria for placements into universities of their choices would have equal opportunity as their sighted counterparts.
“And that is why we in the Equal Opportunity Group are deploying all resources available to us in ensuring that equal opportunity is given to all regardless of any form of disability and I think the larger society should also toe this path.”
Meanwhile, social media had reported that JAMB head of information, Fabian Benjamin , had disclosed that about 367 blind candidates were expected to sit for the 2018 UTME in centres across the country.
Social media has reported that Benjamin said the special candidates had been divided into two batches with the first set sitting for the UTME on Monday, March 19, while the second batch was scheduled to have their turn on Tuesday, March 20.
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