Oloyede: Most Painful Experience at JAMB Was Seeing Parents Organise Examination Malpractice

Immediate past Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has described the involvement of parents in organising examination malpractice as the most painful experience of his ten-year leadership of the examination body.

Oloyede made the remark on Sunday during a live interview on ThisDay Live aired by Arise Television, shortly after officially handing over the leadership of JAMB to his successor, Prof. Segun Aina.

President Bola Tinubu appointed Aina, a professor of Computer Engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, to succeed Oloyede as the sixth registrar of JAMB.

Reflecting on his tenure, Oloyede said he was deeply disturbed by the extent to which some parents actively planned and facilitated examination malpractice for their children and wards.

According to him, many candidates were not naturally inclined toward cheating but were pushed into dishonest practices by adults who should have guided them properly.

“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,” Oloyede said.

He warned that such actions expose young people to criminal behaviour at an early stage of life and could have long-term consequences for both the individuals and the nation.

“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 stated.

Oloyede added that he often became emotional whenever he encountered evidence of parents encouraging examination fraud, saying he found it difficult to understand why anyone would deliberately compromise the future of their own children.

He maintained that despite the challenge, his years at JAMB were largely rewarding and successful, describing the issue of parental involvement in examination malpractice as the lowest point of his administration.

The former registrar also expressed confidence in the ability of his successor to improve the board’s operations, particularly through the application of technology.

He said Aina’s academic background in computer engineering places him in a strong position to deepen technological innovations in the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and other board activities, while sustaining the reforms introduced during the past decade.