The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has sanctioned some accredited officials for demanding that a hijab-wearing candidate at Saturday’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination must remove her headgear.

The officials at one of the examination centres in Lagos had insisted that the removal of the hijab by the candidate was a prerequisite for her to enter the examination hall.

“The board deeply regrets the incident and, on an investigation, discovered that this particular incident, or others in the past, is not linked to any of its examination guidelines.

“It was rather a product of the misplaced priority of some of the accredited partners or officials who claimed ignorance of the board’s guidelines on accreditation,” the board said.

It maintained that the guideline was to ensure that all candidates were properly screened and to allow female officials to screen the same gender.

“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.

“Since ignorance of the law is not an excuse, the officials have been sanctioned to serve as a deterrent to others,’’ the board’s spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, stated in Abuja on Sunday.

He noted that the culpable officials acted in ignorance as JAMB had no policy barring candidates from wearing the religious paraphernalia peculiar to their faith.

Mr Benjamin also stated that about 1.2 million candidates would have completed the examination by Monday, April 22. 

(NAN)