Since the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, announced the scrapping of the Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (Post-UTME), conflicting signals on university admission process have been coming out from the Federal Ministry of Education and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The minister, while cancelling the post-UTME hitherto conducted by the universities before admission of students, had insisted that only scores in the UTME conducted by JAMB should be used to admit students into the universities.
The scrapping of the post-UTME is eliciting criticisms in the universities. The view in academia is that the policy is an infringement of university autonomy, as it robs the institutions of the right to assess admission seekers and select their students.
While the dust raised by the scrapping of the post-UTME was yet to settle, JAMB last week came up with the points-based admission system in its 2016 admission guidelines. It was reported that the points system was adopted after a meeting JAMB held with the administrators of universities and other tertiary institutions in the country. The points-based system gives marks to candidates’ scores in the UTME and their grades in the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) to arrive at a total score that will be used for admission. The universities will be allowed to charge up to N2,500 for the screening of candidates at the end of the admission process.
Details of the new admission guidelines as available in the media indicate that a candidate who submits only one SSCE result which contains his relevant subjects is deemed to have 10 points, while any candidate who obtains his SSCE results at two sittings gets only 2 points. Other highlights of the confusing policy show that an A score at O’ Level attracts 6 marks, B, 4 marks, and C, 3 marks. The final stage is the UTME score where 180-200 will earn between 20-23 marks; 200-250, 24-33 marks; 250-300, 34-43; and 300-400, 44-60 marks.
The new admission guidelines have not been well received by concerned stakeholders. For us, it is an obfuscation of an otherwise simple admission process. Worse still, the decision to put the cost of the new screening process at a maximum of N2,500 payable to the individual universities by the candidates is drawing the ire of admission seekers. This is largely because the cost of the Post-UTME was one of the factors that informed the campaign for its cancellation in the first place.
Meanwhile, the JAMB on Monday explained that the points system obtained by stakeholders from its website was a mere illustration of how candidates could be assessed for admission. According to the board’s Head of Media and Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, the Federal Government had approved re-enforcement of admission guidelines as recognised by law. He insisted that admission into tertiary institutions will still be purely based on the three pillars of merit, catchment area and educationally less-developed states.
The confusion over the 2016 university admission guidelines could have been avoided if the nation’s education administrators had worked in concert and come up with an acceptable policy that will serve the best interest of all stakeholders.
We call on the Minister of Education and the Registrar of JAMB to always speak with one voice on admission matters. If the Post-UTME has been cancelled as the minister was reported to have said, there should be no equivocation on the matter and the points-based system would be unnecessary. It is a needless distraction that our admission system can do without.
The new points-based admission system, whether it is real or a mere illustration, questions the integrity of UTME conducted by JAMB, just as the Post-UTME did. Considering the recent efforts to improve the integrity of JAMB’s UTME with the introduction of Computer-Based Tests and the prompt release of results, the best option for the country may be to fine-tune the CBT and address all challenges that marred the examination. This is because the SSCE scores that may now be used alongside UTME results in the admission process may not necessarily be more credible than UTME results, considering the introduction of CBT.
The screening of candidates’ credentials should not attract any fee whatsoever. This is because the students already bought JAMB forms and paid other sundry fees. Therefore, the additional fee of N2,500 for screening is exploitative. It is another way of bringing back the Post-UTME fees.
The authorities should not cancel Post-UTME fees and introduce “screening fees.” Let the Federal Ministry of Education and JAMB stop issuing conflicting statements on the 2016 university admission process. The Minister of Education should clarify this matter once and for all to avoid the confusing situation admission seekers are being subjected to.