Despite the increasing burden of economic recession due to bad policies and COVID-19 especially in Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM) has reportedly displayed crass ineptitude and many students are being made to pay for it.
Aside from financial loss, the students are also being made to go through psychological and emotional trauma due to no fault of theirs. This act is painting the management of the professional body in bad light.
According to a report reaching Freelanews, CIPM decided to conduct a computer based test for this year’s diet as against the physical examination where accredited centres are used.
Being alien to such since the establishment of the body, both the students and lecturers appealed to the institute against the use of technology. The institute was adamant, collected money from the students and went ahead to conduct the CBT examination. Many of the students failed due to malfunctioning examination portal. The complain ranged from system log-out, difficulty in logging in at all while some failed due to disorganisation of questions.
One of the lecturers who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent that though opting for CBT was the best measure against the spread of COVID-19 but warned that there would be challenges.
“Yes, the management might have opted for Computer Based Test for this year’s diet examination, but we warned that there would be challenges. For instance, how many students have computers and how reliable is internet connection in the country?
“Besides, the institute has never used computer for examination before. So we appealed to them to at least test-run the response to the deployment of technology and instead of jumping right into an important examination.
“They did not listen. Now that most of the students have failed, instead of taking responsibility, the institution is trying to punish the students for its own ineptitude by asking that the less fortunate students resit for the diet next year without payment,” the lecturer said.
On why this arrangement was rejected by the students, Ms. O (not real name), who joined the institute in 2019 and also one of the students affected when the systems started malfunctioning during the examination told Freelanews that such arrangement is unfair.
“Our money seam to be what mattered to them and not our emotions, efforts and stress. I spent money going for lectures for the last diet. I work and I did not find it easy sharing my time with reading, attending lectures and work. So telling students who had issues to take exam next diet seem like wasting a big part of their lifetimes,” she groaned.
On what suggestion she has for the management going forward, Ms. O said,”I personally think next exam should only be for students who had issues.
“If students have to prepare themselves for same exam that would have been written at the diet expected, then I believe diet can be repeated in the error of the institution to help students meet up with the others. A repeat should not be caused by the institution who have sworn to give good service to their students.
“If that happens, even in the university every semester is carried at once and even exam for any department is not completed a time will be set aside for it to be done. Please note that on rewriting the exam it helps them quickly meet up with their fellow level mate so they write next diet together.”
When asked what she would do if the institution insists it is going forward with re-sitting for the exam next diet.
“If the institution says we write next diet it’s a no for me. They owe me an obligation to write the exam which they have suggested but not as a repeat as this is the case. My next diet should be for next stage.
“CIPM should schedule a date, reach out to student and beckon on them who did not write exam or had issues as a result of the problems encountered on the exam platform through social media adverts to identify themselves for exam to be scheduled for only them.
“After that they can start a new diet. If this is not done it only shows that the institution is only after getting money from students registration and exams while paying less attention to the needs of the students,” she lamented.
All attempts made to get CIPM or its representative on the issue proved abortive as at the time of filing this report.
The professional body was established as an umbrella Association for Practitioners of Personnel Management in 1968 as the Personnel Management Association of Nigeria. In 1973, it was renamed as Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria. Finally, Act No 58 of 1992 chartered the Institute.
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