Tutorial School Operators holds Education rally, task JAMB on Efficiency in 2020 UTME

The Association of Tutorial School Operators (ATSO) in Ondo state held an education rally in Akure as part of the activities marking the commencement of her one-week education contest tagged – “The Most Brilliant Student Contest 2020 in Ondo State”. The event which was the first edition was described as an opportunity to celebrate excellence in the Education sector.

The leader of the Association, Mr. Bankole Fisayo while speaking with Technocrat Media House explained that the rally was just an awareness section of the whole one-week long events aimed at teaching, testing, select and reward the best three most brilliant students in Ondo State. He reacted to different questions asked by the newsmen at the rally.

Can we meet you?

My name is Bankole Fisayo, Governor of the Association of Tutorial School Operators, Ondo state chapter.

Briefly, can you tell us what this rally is all about?

This rally is usually organized to celebrate excellence in education across the country. Today, we are having our own in Ondo State. As a matter of fact, you know that celebrating excellence among students is very important. We recognized that the government is not doing it and we are doing this to assist the government and for them to know that it is important.

People believe that Tutorial Operators are part of the perpetrators of examination malpractices, what do you have to say about this?  

In the past, there is no doubt about it that many tutorial operators were involved in examination malpractices. But you have to believe that there are many of us who believe in imparting knowledge in our students to make them succeed in their examinations. As it is now, before anyone can join our association, there are criteria to fulfill. In fact, we now have government agencies responsible for monitoring our activities and go after the evil ones in Ondo state. For instance, in the last year UTME, people were arrested in Lagos, Ekiti, Ogun, and other states but none was arrested here. This speaks volumes about our integrity.

What is your assessment of the JAMB Registrar?

The registrar is trying his best as far as I am concern. We have seen so many things his doing since he assumed office but a particular thing is missing. He needs to understand that some are part of the stakeholders in the education sector. He needs to partner with us so that we can give him ideas as well. He is in Abuja; tutorial schools are everywhere across the country. They are only collecting money from the student but doing nothing to ensure students pass their examinations. Take, for instance, the students that have registered for this year’s UTME are around 1.9 million candidates according to him. But what is the provision for admissions in the universities? At the end of the day, maybe only 250, 000 candidates will be admitted while the remaining candidates would have no place to go. Stakeholders must come together to provide a lasting solution.

We are aware that you are still marching JAMB Office today, this is for what?

Yes, we are going there to drop our position paper to show them that we are behind them. They need to also understand that they should put in place things to ensure hitch-free 2020 UTME and addresses our concerns as a stakeholder in the education sector. For instance, one of the things they need to put in place is the issue of CBT. Over the years with the introduction of Computer Based Test (CBT), experiences and feedback have shown that technical issues such as computer systems malfunctioning and failure during examinations and server problems among other had resulted into some students failing the Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination repeatedly. We are calling on the authority of JAMB to ensure adequate preparations, certifications, and upgrading of CBT centers for hitch-free 2020 UTME and future editions. This and many other sundry issues are part of the position paper. JAMB must be prepared to ensure all the materials and equipment for 2020 UTME are intact. We will not be happy after we had worked tirelessly to see such scenarios playing out during the examination to fail our students.

Earlier at the Palace of the Deji of Akure Kingdom, the King praised the association for adding value to education in Nigeria. He added that the tutorial schools are feeling the gap that existed between the period of leaving secondary school and securing admissions into the higher institutions of learning. He promised to always be of support to the Association whenever they called upon him.

Not less than 1000 students attended the rally. The one-week long events continue as the students will be engaged for intensive lectures, seminars, and hints on how to pass UTME. On day four, the student would write an assessment test with Computer Based Test in order to select the most brilliants while on the last day, dinner and award night mark the end of this year’s The Most Brilliant Student Contest in Ondo State.

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