Assuming that the current situation is one in which the said student, whose name I will not mention for ethical reasons, has given false information to the public or media, no official of the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) is authorized to address the matter externally in the manner in which the student or their guardian did in the media.
The following headline should never have happened. “Anambra student who won a multimillion-naira scholarship from Innoson used software to boost her UTME score: JAMB,” Ahmed Oluwasanjo wrote in a Peoples Gazette online article published on July 2, 2023.
President Bola Tinubu, Nigerian public organizations such as JAMB must follow privacy laws and regulations throughout your presidency. Despite democratic backsliding and concerns about human rights, I believe Nigeria has a Constitution that guarantees individual rights and freedoms. It is critical that JAMB, which is known for dealing with children’s and teenagers’ private and internal problems, adhere to basic privacy standards and understand their responsibility to protect children’s interests, including their privacy. Student privacy must be maintained in order to create a safe and secure educational environment.
Assume that any JAMB official is required to respond to and resolve false remarks made by a student to the media immediately; if this is the case, it is critical to consider the legal and ethical ramifications. JAMB and other educational institutions must take extraordinary caution when it comes to invading students’ privacy and confidentiality rights. As an ethical psychologist, I feel that striking a balance between the need to rectify misinformation and the need to protect student information is critical.
Communicate with the student, ideally the parents/guardians, as quickly as feasible and discreetly, and arrange for a brief face-to-face or virtual meetings over WhatsApp or Zoom.
The student’s or child’s privacy will not be violated by such private and direct communication with the student and/or parents or legal guardians to advise them of JAMB’s concerns. I am confident that such interaction will enable authorities to voice concerns or make informed decisions about the privacy of their child. Treat sensitive student information responsibly when sharing any information to the media and public in order to protect students’ legal and emotional well-being while requesting consent to address the matter with the media.
JAMB must develop and practice ways for prioritizing internal investigations without causing pain or embarrassment to present or past students. Jamb is responsible for gathering facts and determining the appropriate response, as well as properly investigating and addressing any potential internal technology flaws that may have resulted in the distribution of inaccurate data, if any but this should not be a media debate on such a sensitive matter.
JAMB officials must cease and desist from future media interaction on this topic until they have written and updated approval from the student and/or parents/guardians. If a public agency, such as JAMB, conducts a media trial or inappropriately discusses a student’s mistake or no mistake, the student and their guardians should consult with legal professionals who specialize in education law because ordinary institutional acts, such as those of JAMB, can cause mental and emotional distress. It is also critical for newspapers and other media sources to bear responsibility for maintaining journalistic standards and ethics, which includes avoiding sensational reporting, which, as in this case, has the potential to hurt people, particularly children and teenagers.
This new Tinubu administration should consider decentralizing JAMB, which was established in 1978 or so, when Nigeria’s population was approximately 68 million, as opposed to 200 million presently. In response to the growing population, JAMB, like other centralized agencies such as the police, judiciary, university commission, and others, requires decentralization. Decentralization has the potential to provide several benefits, including increased responsiveness. Only this April, students in some states across Nigeria were unable to sit for JAMB’s compulsory examination for candidates seeking admission into tertiary institutions via the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, due to a variety of JAMB issues, including a delay caused by technical difficulties, poor student accreditation, power outages in some areas, and verification process difficulties, among others.
This is not to say that JAMB has not made every effort to make things easier for our young examinees; nonetheless, the population is simply too large for extraordinary efficiency, efficacy, and timeliness.
Decentralization can assist in dealing with a range of issues that develop as a result of a greater population. The formation of independent examination bodies by states and local governments will allow for a better response to incidents, allowing them to be dealt with more quickly and effectively.
Because of decentralization, local exam body units can tailor their goals and priorities to the needs of their respective communities.
Decision-making processes can be made more accessible and accountable by decentralizing JAMB. Local governments are capable of dealing with a wide range of concerns, such as proper collaboration with other Examination supervisory authorities, the adoption of clear regulations and standards to ensure consistency, and the fair allocation of educational resources.
The current presidential administration must recognize that Nigeria’s population increase is a critical component in the operation of examination boards such as JAMB. As the population grows, so does the demand for postsecondary education, resulting in a significant increase in the number of students taking the Unified Postsecondary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Decentralizing JAMB could be a potential answer to the challenges presented by an increasing population and a rise in exam candidates.
Decentralizing JAMB allows states and local governments to build examination centers in a range of places, increasing exam accessibility for students in those areas and decreasing the need for applicants to travel large distances to take the exam.
Overcrowding and logistical issues develop as a result of the concentration of examination locations in specific areas. Decentralization distributes a region’s candidate load over multiple locations, minimizing congestion and generating a more manageable examination method. The efficacy of local government will allow for more examination centers, which will help to simplify the registration, examination, and results processing processes. Smaller facilities are easier to operate and can lead to more efficient overall operations. Because of decentralization, test papers can be adapted to specific geographical demands and interests. This is especially true in disciplines where regional variations exist or regional languages are required.
Decentralization makes it easier to enforce security measures such as preventing test misconduct and ensuring the examination process’s integrity. Smaller centers can be more tightly supervised, reducing the possibility of fraudulent activity.
The Tinubu administration can start discussing it aggressively so that proper coordination and communication with the central JAMB can enable states and local jurisdictions to have independent management of the examination process, reducing the burden on the central organization and enabling faster decision-making, and schools under different state and local governments can establish clear policies and guidelines regarding confidentiality and security. Good luck Mr. President.
