Insecurity, not only COVID-19 responsible for mass failure in 2021 UTME – Agboola

An Ibadan-based energy expert, Mr. Olusegun Agboola, has said that the COVID-19 pandemic is not the only cause of mass failure recorded during this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Agboola made this disclosure while speaking with newsmen in Ibadan on Sunday.

Our correspondent recalls that Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is the body responsible for the conduct of the examination.

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It was learned that over 1.4 million candidates sat for this year’s UTME.

It was however gathered that only a few of the candidates scored above 200 in the yearly examination.

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JAMB Registrar, Professor Isiaq Oloyede, noted that the COVID-19 pandemic is the cause of the mass failure.

But, Agboola while reacting, noted that the outback of COVID-19 is not the only cause of mass failure among the students.

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Agboola, while speaking at Cathedral of St Peter, Aremo, Ibadan, during the fifth year remembrance of Chief Ezekiel Ayoola Agboola, insisted that insecurity and infrastructural decay also contributed to the mass failure recorded in this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

He insisted that the happenings around the country, such as insecurity like kidnapping, killings and banditry, are also responsible for the failure of the students to concentrate on their studies.

He maintained that happenings around the country in the last three years had a negative effect on students’ performance.

“The happenings around the country in the last three years must have a bearing on the ability of the students to sit and read in the class.

“We all know that the pandemic has its own. But, apart from the pandemic, we know the state of the nation. In addition, the state of the schools. These affected the performance of the students,” he said.

“Oyo State has the highest number of out-of-school children in the south-west”.

Agboola, while speaking further, added that it is time for all stakeholders to rise up and tackle the menace of mass failure and out-of-school children.