ASHENEWS reports that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says that it has sanctioned one of its officials who had asked a female Muslim student to remove her headscarf during the accreditation process before being allowed into the examination hall.
JAMB, in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin on Sunday said that the incident,” is 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 Board’s guidelines on accreditation, which ensures that all candidates are screened allowing only female officials to screen female candidates before allowing them to gain entrance into the hall.”
JAMB also said that the situation was instantly addressed by a senior official of the Board at the centre and the candidate in question was allowed in after the usual checks with her hijab.
“Its worthy of note that the Board, as a national institution, has no policy barring candidates from sporting the religious paraphernalia peculiar to their religious persuasions as these are the facts of everyday life in Nigeria, which everyone should have been familiar with by now.”
JAMB also assured the general public that the issue would be properly investigated, as it had done in past incidents, to prevent a recurrence.
“The Board is committed to the discharge of its statutory role of ensuring that suitably-qualified candidates are selected for admission into the nation’s tertiary institutions and would not allow anything or anyone to detract it from the pursuit of this noble goal,” JAMB said.
Muslim News had on Sunday, 21st April 2024, reported that a candidate donning hijab was asked to remove her headcover during the accreditation process before being allowed into the examination hall.
According to the report, the incident occurred at the Bafuto Institute, Ile-Iwe Bus Stop, Ejigbo, Lagos.
