Two shocks
in the tertiary education sector that have jolted Nigerians, once again, show
how the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is geared towards
ruining the future of Nigeria. It also proves the much-talked about need to
scrap JAMB, which has outlived its usefulness, to allow universities admit
qualified candidates.
The Minister
of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu and JAMB registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede are
behind this national embarrassment. Could President Muhammadu Buhari save the
future of this country by reversing these retrogressive decisions? This is not
the kind of change we need.
First is the
appalling and disgusting slashing of university cut-off marks from an awful and
lamentable 180 (45 per cent) to a deplorable and scandalous 120 (30 per cent).
It is like the 180 score didn’t get Nigeria at the jugular, which the 120 is
now out to accomplish. Without equivocation, these say much about the direction
the country is headed.
The second
is the re-introduction of post-UTME test that was banned barely a year ago by
the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu. What is a post-UTME test going to
achieve when failures, who scored 30 per cent, in JAMB are admitted. Is it
possible for candidates who scored 30 per cent in JAMB to score 80 per cent in
post-UTME test? This is most unlikely and would call for investigation if it
happens.
Nigerians
are shaken and wondering who made these decisions and for what purpose. Several
universities have decried the score as unacceptable. The National Association
of Nigerian Students (NANS) has condemned it. Foremost lawyer, university
administrator and educationist, Afe Babalola, has rejected the 120 score. No
university worthy of its name would admit a 30 per cent scorer as good
material.
Coming to
the lifting of the ban on the post-UTME test, there is no doubt that the
universities want the post-UTME test for monetary purposes. The test is not
there to get the best university materials. Why test someone who has already
failed with 30 per cent?
From
experience, the test is highly compromised. It is needless fixing the fee to be
charged by the universities. The cost cannot be the same across the country
because the cost of living is not regulated.
What about
the risk of travelling across to the institutions to take the test? The
attendant risks on our accident-prone highways infested with criminals are
enormous. A lot of students and their parents/guardians have lost their lives
on the highways travelling to take post-UTME test. Why must Nigerians be
subjected to avoidable suffering?
The Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) announced the outrageously very low
cut-off marks after the so-called 2017 Combined Policy Meeting on Admissions
into Tertiary Institutions in Abuja.
Why can’t
the institutions be allowed to fix their cut-off marks to create distinction
and scholarship? Why must all the institutions be on the same scale? Where in
the world does this obtain?
According to
the JAMB registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, the cut-off marks for universities
were set for 120 (30 per cent); polytechnics and colleges of education 100 (25
per cent), while that of innovative enterprising institutes was pegged at 110
(28 per cent). These cut-off marks clearly show that there is no need for JAMB
anymore.
Must
everybody go to university? Why can’t there be middle-level education after
secondary school for those who could not make it to universities?
Oloyede’s
assertion that not every person who scored 120 would be admitted is baseless.
Are we talking of the chances of being admitted or the scandalous admission of
failures? Many 120 scorers would certainly be admitted. What legacy would
Oloyede, who is known to be a non-conformist, leave for posterity?
The
institutions for which those abject failures are meant are expected to compete
in today’s 21st century knowledge-driven world, where China, Japan, Asian
Tigers, USA and countries in the European Union are operating in stiff
competition.
And as if
that is not enough, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu added insult to
injury by announcing the re-introduction of post-UTME test, which he personally
banned barely a year ago. Why make a U-turn belatedly? Universities have nearly
completed admissions. Why make a compromise?
It is
unbecoming for the Minister of Education to say unabashedly that “Cancellation
of post-UTME is a mistake.” Who made the mistake? Certainly, no other person
could have made that costly mistake but the minister himself.
The first
thing Malam Adamu did on assumption of office as Minister was to announce the
scrapping of post-UTME test. He was lauded for taking a positive step in the
national interest. But he is now telling us that he made a mistake. Could that
be the final mistake? How do we guarantee the decisions he has been making as
Minister?
The minister
had declared that the Federal Government has confidence in the examinations
conducted by JAMB, hence, there was no need to further subject candidates to
unnecessary tests, given, especially, the mounting corruption, favouritism and
bribery that had assailed the test.
Is the same
Adamu now saying that the Federal Government no longer has confidence in JAMB?
What a bundle of ruinous inconsistencies being visited on Nigeria by those who
are supposed to know better? How is it that those entrusted with education are
toying with the country’s future?
There is
nowhere in the known wide world that 30 per cent is accepted as pass in any
examination. This madness has serious implications on degrees awarded by
Nigerian universities. Already, degrees from Nigeria don’t qualify for direct
employment abroad. Graduates who want to pursue higher degrees abroad are
subjected to further examinations.
Probably,
this is being done to accommodate the poorly performing candidates from the
North, the same way admission into Federal Government colleges is skewed in
their favour. Candidates with two marks are admitted while those with 135 from
the South are left out.
How would
the block heads and dullards being herded into some glorified, ill-equipped and
strike-weary universities match the state-of-the-art ICT-driven fist class
education abroad?
There are
innovative ways to accommodate those with poor performance if the Federal
Government, through the Ministry of Education, is serious and sincerely wants
to do the right thing in the national interest.
This same
system abolished the Higher School Certificate (HSC) through which brainy
candidates are prepared for university education. What is wrong with Nigeria?
Why are we moving backwards with delight? It is truism that if you want to
develop a people, you give them education but if you want to destroy them, you
take away education. Nigeria is being destroyed. The abhorable cut-marks should
be reversed while the post-UTME test should remain banned.
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