By DAYO JOHNSON

OVER 17,500 students, weekend, sat for the 3,000 admission spaces available at Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) in Ondo State during its post unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME).

The results of the examination were released within thirty minutes  just as two students were arrested for cheating.

Speaking with newsmen after the inspection of the examination, the vice chancellor, Professor Adebisi Balogun, called on stakeholders in the education sector  to rise to the rot in the education system.

Balogun expressed concern at the way education is being handled in the country.

He said that the smooth conduct of the computer-based screening is an improvement on the earlier editions which, he said, was achieved through evaluation.

He recalled that the candidates were over 17,000 as against the 10,500 recorded last year and added that FUTA was building a digital centre to assist in future exercise.

Justifying the need for the examination, the vice chancellor said that most results paraded by students are not the true picture of their abilities and that the examination was necessary to ascertain their competence.

Balogun said that if the UTME was cancelled, it would give room for ”a lot of subjectivity in the competence of students”.

Also speaking, the FUTA Admission Committee Chairman and deputy vice-chancellor (Academic), Professor Debo Adeyewa, stated that the exercise was a success despite some challenges faced in controlling the crowd.