The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Sunday announced that it has sanctioned some officials over the harassment of a female Hijab-wearing candidate.
The female candidate who sat her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination at the Bafuto Institute, Ile-Iwe Bus Stop, Ejigbo, Lagos was said to have been asked to remove her headcover during the accreditation process before being allowed into the examination hall.
Addressing the issue in a statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs of the Board, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, the Board noted that it deeply regretted the incident.
It said on investigation, it discovered that the incident or others in the past were not linked to any of its examination guidelines but rather a product of the misplaced priority of some of the Board’s accredited partners or officials who claimed ignorance of the its guidelines on accreditation.
The statement read, “This situation was instantly addressed by a senior official of the Board at the center and the candidate in question was allowed in after the usual checks with her hijab.
Furthermore, the Board assured the general public that the issue would be properly investigated as to prevent a recurrence.
Meanwhile, the conduct of 2024 UTME, which commenced on Friday, 19th April 2024, has been marred with reports of technical glitches as over 1.2 million candidates would have successfully taken the examination by Monday, 22nd April 2024.