By Tare Youdeowei & Elizabeth Uwandu

The pronouncement of the Federal Minister of Education cancelling post-UTME tests for admission into universities has continued to generate reactions from more stakeholders, especially university teachers, administrators, school proprietors and even classroom teachers.

It will be recalled that following the minister’s pronouncement, the Joint Admissions & Matriculation Board, JAMB, released what it called the Point-Based System as the principal guideline to be used by universities in admitting students. But not a few stakeholders are finding it difficult to come to terms with the new directive, even as there are others who are appy with the development.

For Prof. Ameh Dennis Akoh, Director of General Studies, Osun State University, UNIOSUN, Osogbo, JAMB’s decision to post candidates will cause confusion as many applicants, hitherto unable to prove their results, would now freely gain admission without proper screening by the universities.

His words: “As for the new Federal Ministry of Education, FME’s directive on admission, I can assure you it will create some mess. The post-UTME screening hitherto conducted by universities helped to check the quality of candidates admitted. The FME cannot turn itself to senate of universities and  dictate criteria for admission.

Miracle Centres

”The mess I mean is that before this time we all knew how candidates with over-bloated UTME scores got admission into universities only to discover that they did not actually earn those scores. You know the stories of ‘miracle’ centres for UTME. The post-UTME screening was a kind of check on such candidates who could barely meet up the minimum cutoff in the screening exercise.

Trust me, we are returning to days of miracle centres with the new guidelines.”

Mr. Noserime Osasame, a senior teacher at Queensland Academy, firmly opposed the FME’s posting of candidates, saying JAMB does not have jurisdiction to post candidates.

“No! Universities should be allowed to coordinate their internal exams. If FME insists, then this is another room for corruption. Every university in the country should have  autonomy to handle admission. In the past, one university that single-handedly did this was Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.”

Jurisdiction to post: Clarifying the issue of jurisdiction to post candidates to institutions, FME,through the Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations, Mr. Ben Bem-Goong, in a statement said; “The ban on Post Unfied Tertiary Matriculation Examination  does not in any way affect the statutory role of the Senate of any university or academic boards of any tertiary institution conducting its admission. This is following conflicting reports in the media over the roles of universities and JAMB in admission under the new dispensation.”

Dr. Shina Akintolure, a lecturer and Proprietor of Stokhan Schools, though condemning the choice of a minister, lauded the FME’s decision thus; “When you put round pegs in round holes you get results, but if you put square pegs in round holes you will not get results.

Renowned educationist

Without any apology, the present Minister of Education is zero; you have a columnist and make him the minister for education, he knows nothing about education. Fortunately, he has a minister of state for education who is a renowned educationist. However, even when he brings a suggestion the minister can ignore it.

“The truth of the matter is canceling post-UTME is a step in the right direction because it was just an avenue for VCs of varsities to become multimillionaires. They charged between N2, 000 to N10,000. Meanwhile they already know the admission quota given to them by JAMB and NUC. Thus they already know the number they are going to admit on merit, so why  not just do the screening and pick the most qualified?

‘Man know man’: “The issue is that Nigerians are complaining that the selection process of JAMB is ‘man know man’ and I have told the few people I have been privileged to speak with that the notion is wrong.

Now what JAMB does is to post on their site; name of candidate, registration number, JAMB score, course, faculty, department and university, then notify the student that his or her name has been sent for screening.

“Also, JAMB has said the minimum score is 180, but some varsities refuse. Unilag, University of Ibadan, OAU, say they will not take anything less than 200. Where is the uniformity? What universities should do is select based on score and available spaces, then they send it to JAMB.”

Principal, Caro Favoured School, Mr. Mark Okoh, lamented the confused state of his students thus; “In my opinion there are conflicting admission requirements. There is confusion in the air; it stems from the fact that the Minister of Education will say one thing, the universities will do another, this is making the students confused, they don’t know which to follow and where to go. One of my students has met the school’s admission requirement but up to this moment JAMB has not given her admission letter.”

Admission posting

Debunking claims that posting list of students to schools is the same as admission list, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, in statement on Sunday said; “JAMB admission posting is not the same as admission list. It’s just a list forwarded to various tertiary institutions.

The board wishes to state that the latest list of candidates sent to all the tertiary institutions contains candidates who qualified for screening based on the individual institution’s capacity. It is not in any way an admission list.

“However, if this list is not sufficient for the need of any institution, such institution can source from the omnibus printout earlier sent to them by the board. The public and all tertiary institutions should note that admission will only be approved by the board after appropriate screening of the candidates by the institutions.

“The list, which is made up of candidates, who met the national cut-off point within the set criteria, is sent to the institutions. Again, for purposes of clarity, all institutions that have need for more can source from their omnibus printout as stated above. The candid intention of the board is to ensure that available spaces are adequately utilised.”

Parents react

Giving kudos to the policy, Mr Chinasa Igbo, a parent said; “My son’s admission is not yet on JAMB site, he said they are giving admission batch by batch. He applied for Federal University of Technology, Owerri. I personally like the fact that the post-UTME was scrapped. It has saved us a lot of trouble.”

Concurring, Mrs. Antonia Duru, another parent, had this to say: “I like the way it is now. The wait isn’t long, I do not mind at all, where are they running to. They are gradually going back to the old system.

My only fear is that admission might now be about packing a certain type of people into schools. But this way they save us and our children time, energy and money. It even gives some sort of security; traveling for exams, having to lodge in hotels.”

Bisi Olawale, a candidate awaiting admission, said; “My own is not yet out but I am hopefull. The fact that i don’t have to write another exam is really great. I just sincerely hope that the admission process will not be partial.