Discordant tunes over conduct of post-UTME in schools

As universities commenced the writing of post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for prospective students, mixed reactions have trailed the exercise. Most of the students described the exercise as cumbersome, thus, making the entire admission process difficult. They subsequently called for its cancellation.

However, a few of the candidates who expressed satisfaction with the exercise said the screening makes the admission process credible and should be applauded.

Speaking with The Guardian some of the candidates insisted that the exercise should be jettisoned, while some others were undecided, while a few supported that it should be continued.

Ogochukwu Adobi, a 200-level political science student from the University of Benin (UNIBEN), wondered why candidates should be subjected to another screening exercise after they have already passed UTME.

Oboh Solomon of Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State, asserted that the screening exercise is a medium by the institutions to exploit students financially.

He said, “I don’t see the need for post-UTME when there is the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). I think the only thing we need is school screening and not that boring post-UTME which institutions are using to extort money from poor students”.

Adeniji Ibatullah who is seeking admission into the University of Ibadan (UI) said, “the post-UTME is totally unnecessary and should be scrapped. “We have already done UTME and written O’ level examinations. , are those not enough to test our abilities? These exams are just tiring; the government should pity us and cancel the examination.”

Shittu Habeeb who is seeking admission into the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMINA) said, “I live in Oyo state and had to go to Minna to write the post-UTME. I am not even sure if I will gain admission into the school, it is stressful to travel there and come back with so many uncertainties around my admission. The government should scrap the exercise, they should device other means to test our abilities, better still after they give us admission, whoever does not do well enough after the first semester should be sent home.”

Hamzat Idris, a LASU admission seeker said, “We have to pay for WAEC, NECO, UTME and those are still not enough? They should try to choose a specific examination that will help the admission process.”

Adeyemi Oluwamayowa, another candidate said she has been battling post-UTME screening in the last three years.

But some students insisted that the exercise is worthwhile and should be continued.

A student from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Enugu State, said, post-UTME is a way to curb examination malpractice, although it does not eradicate it, to an extent, it evaluates students’ performances in the UTME. In my time, it was a big challenge, as I had to do the screening exercise twice even after passing UTME successfully. It built my intellectual capacity and I strived hard to cover all syllabuses related to JAMB.

I think it’s a good measure of scrutiny to ascertain whether a student is qualified to study in our Universities”.

Another student said, “It should be scrapped. Although some might argue that it is a way of generating funds for the school. I still think it is unnecessary. I have seen people score very high in UTME and could not gain admission because they had low scores in post-UTME”.

Joy Da silva said, “The screening is further testing, it should be continued. Some students pay their way through secondary school and also have people upgrade their UTME results for them, it is very hard to beat the post-UTME system, and so it is really helpful.