Immediate past Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has named the involvement of parents in organising examination malpractice for their children as the most painful experience of his 10-year tenure at the examination body.
Oloyede spoke on Sunday during the THISDAY Live programme on Arise Television, days after handing over the leadership of JAMB to his successor, Prof. Segun Aina.
The former registrar formally handed over the affairs of the board to Aina on Friday after completing two terms in office.
Reflecting on his time at JAMB, Oloyede said he often became emotional whenever he encountered parents facilitating malpractice for their children, describing the practice as a dangerous introduction of young people to criminality.
“The most painful period of my experience in JAMB has to do with the level of involvement of parents in the organisation of examination malpractice,” he said.
“They are introducing their wards and children to the world of crime. I think most of the candidates are not problematic. They are not the problem. The problem is the parents.”
He added that confronting parents over the issue repeatedly stirred deep emotion in him.
“Every time I was confronted with the reality of what parents are doing, most of the time, I became very emotional about it. Most of the time, I feel that how on earth will people hate themselves and their futures to this level. Even if you have deficiency, you won’t want to pass the deficiency to the next generation,” he said.
Despite the difficult moments, Oloyede described his overall tenure at the board as rewarding, with the confrontations over parental involvement in malpractice standing out as his lowest point.
“For me, it was a fine period. The only lowest period was when I confronted parents over involvement in the planning and introduction of their children and wards into crime,” he said.
Oloyede also expressed confidence in Aina’s ability to strengthen the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination through wider use of technology, noting that his successor’s background in computer engineering positions him to build on the innovations already introduced at the board.
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