Do you recall your first time sitting the Universities Matriculation Examination (UME), now the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME)?
How about the stress of studying for the all-important examination, followed by the shivering in anticipation of the release of results?
And when it was finally time to check your score, how did you feel?
For Mmesoma Ejikeme, a 19-year-old 2023 UTME candidate, her experience won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
The Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, had commended her for emerging as ‘the overall best student’ in the annual examination with an aggregate score of ‘362’. This came with a lot of recognition and congratulations, as expected.
In fact, she was awarded a three million naira scholarship grant by the owner of Anambra-based Innoson Motors. You can imagine the fulfillment she felt and how proud her parents were.
Little did they know that the happiness would be short-lived as the examination body, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), declared that Mmesoma forged her result, alleging that she used undisclosed software to change her score from 249 to 362.
JAMB and Mmesoma have, since the start of July, engaged in claims and counterclaims over the authenticity of Mmesoma’s UTME result.
While Mmesoma has insisted that she saw a 362 score on the JAMB portal when she checked her result, the examination body has consistently insisted that the result did not emanate from them.
According to JAMB, they stopped using the format of the copy of the result notification slip displayed in a viral video by Mmesoma, saying that out of more than 1.6 million candidates that sat the examination in 2023, only Mmesoma has such a copy of the result.
Many Nigerians, including academics, have since taken to social media to make their points on this matter. And come to think of it, computer applications that can indeed manipulate and generate UTME scores have surfaced online!
That reminds me of Arya Star’s song – crazy things are happening.
Back in the day, the most common way of cheating was what we called ‘giraffing’, especially for students with a height advantage. However, with the invention of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and some manipulation software, examination malpractices have taken on a new dimension.
Could this be the reason the JAMB Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, said if the board revealed the details of the ‘forgery’ perpetrated by Mmesoma, Nigerians would be shocked? I think the JAMB registrar should go ahead and shock us o – let’s know what we could be up against.
As we await the outcome of this saga, and while Nigerian social media warriors are still ‘dragging’ JAMB and Mmesoma, there are lessons to learn, especially in this era of evolving technological advancement.
JAMB must collaborate or continue to work with technology experts and researchers to stay updated on the latest advancements in AI and software tools used for manipulation. This knowledge can inform the development of effective countermeasures.
Also, the examination body must conduct regular audits and quality assurance processes to evaluate the effectiveness of the existing measures and identify areas for technological improvement.
Working closely with education or youth-focused non-governmental organisations (NGOs), JAMB needs to raise awareness among students about the consequences of using AI or software to manipulate results and promote academic integrity, ethical behaviour, and the importance of honest learning.
For scholarship-awarding companies or organisations, they must ensure they rely only on verifiable records provided by a concerned examination body.
And for students and examination candidates who think they can now adopt these methods of malpractice, it can lead to long-term negative consequences such as reputational damage, loss of credibility, and limited personal and professional growth. Always remember that honesty is the best policy!
Meanwhile, what other lessons have you learnt from Mmesoma’s UTME story?
