Immediate past Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has described the active involvement of parents in examination malpractice as the most painful experience of his 10-year tenure, saying many parents are introducing their children to criminal behaviour in the quest for academic success.
Speaking on THISDAY Live on ARISE News, Oloyede reflected on his decade-long leadership of the examination body, which ended on Friday when he formally handed over to Prof. Segun Aina, the newly appointed JAMB registrar.
According to Oloyede, one of the biggest lessons from his time in office was that candidates were often not the masterminds behind examination fraud.
“The most painful period of my experience in JAMB has to do with the level of involvement of parents in organising examination malpractice,” he said.
“They are introducing their wards and children to the world of crime. Most of the candidates are not the problem. The real problem is the parents.”
He said he was often emotionally affected whenever evidence emerged of parents arranging cheating schemes for their children, wondering why anyone would deliberately compromise the future of the next generation.
“Every time I was confronted with the reality of what parents were doing, I became very emotional. Even if you have your own shortcomings, you shouldn’t pass them on to your children,” he added.
While describing his years at JAMB as fulfilling, Oloyede said confronting the role of parents in examination malpractice remained the lowest point of his administration.
Looking ahead, the former registrar expressed confidence in his successor, Prof. Segun Aina, saying his background in computer engineering would help JAMB deploy more advanced technology to strengthen the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and further improve the integrity of the examination process.
President Bola Tinubu appointed Aina, a professor of Computer Engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, to succeed Oloyede after the latter completed two five-year terms as JAMB registrar.