Worry Over Safety Of Candidates As JAMB Fixes UTME For 6.30am
By Frederick Wright
There is apprehension among parents as many Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) candidates who have printed their examination slips for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) are noticing that their exam time is scheduled as early as 6:30am.
This awkward time is giving parents concerns going by the state of insecurity in the country. Many of them believed that leaving their children to go out in a early hours of the day in the name of exams poses a very high risk.
Most of the candidates will have to struggle to arrive at the centres by 4:30am or 5:00am, because they are still expected to undergo biometric verification (finger print and photo check) before being allowed into the exam hall.
Meanwhile, JAMB has warned that candidates who arrive late may not be allowed to enter once biometric verification for the batch is closed. It advises that “arriving early helps you settle down and avoid unnecessary stress”.
JAMB said it organizes the UTME in multiple sessions everyday to manage the large number of candidates, and 6:30am is usually the time for the first batch of candidates at each CBT centre.
However, parents who expressed their concerns through a popular social media group called Concerned Parents and Educators Network, called on JAMB to review the timing, considering the safety of the candidates.
A member, Sunday Fadahunsi, said: “JAMB can only try all these anomalies in Nigeria. For years people have been complaining of candidates being posted faraway and the unholy hours…”
“…The examination should be between 9am and 4pm. Why should parents and their children lodge in hotels because of an examination? What stops JAMB from using 50 days instead of 30 days so as to avoid risking the lives of the candidates?
“He wants to make money for the Government so he is ready to use seven days and spread exams between the periods of 4am and 10pm!
“JAMB might be making strides in many but it has failed woefully at respecting feedback on these troubling issues,” he stated.
Kenny Akisenoyin Beenard, said: “With the level of insecurity in the country, JAMB keeps putting the lives of these children at risk every year”.
Oyediran Tayo said It’s absurd to say the least. Most of my students will travel close to 100km from home just to write at 6:30am. Many will struggle to raise the transport fare, let alone getting a hotel room, which is not even safe with what some hotels have turned to.
Meanwhile, JAMB on its JAMB2025 online platform stated: “If your JAMB examination slip shows 6:30AM, it means your exam is officially scheduled to start by 6:30AM. JAMB organizes the UTME in multiple sessions everyday to manage the large number of candidates, and 6:30AM is usually the time for the first batch of candidates at each CBT centre.
“Arrive at your centre very early, preferably by 4:30AM or 5:00AM. Biometric verification (finger print and photo check) will be done before you are allowed into the exam hall. Minor delays may happen at some centres due to technical set ups or network, but the target is to start as close to 6:30AM as possible.
“Candidates who arrive late may not be allowed to enter once biometric verification for the batch is closed. Arriving early helps you settle down and avoid unnecessary stress.
“ If your JAMB exam slip shows 6:30AM, plan and prepare as if you must start at exactly that time. Wake up early, arrange your transport ahead of time, and make sure you get to your CBT centre long before your scheduled time,” it stated.
Recall that JAMB had announced a change in the commencement date of the 2025 UTME that was previously billed to hold on Friday, April 25, to Thursday, April 24, 2025.
