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New JAMB Admission Template: Conflicting, confusing orders from education ministry

By Gbenga Salau
17 July 2016   |   2:40 am
But this is contrary to JAMB position, which came out last week to deny that the Point System, circulating in the public space was officially from it, though it was available on its website.
Candidates at a post-UME centre

Candidates at a post-UME centre

Despite the denial by JAMB that the new admission template, the Points System, did not emanate from it, some institutions have embraced it. During the week, the Federal University, Lafia, Nassarawa, advertised that students could come forward for screening. It demanded the payment of N2, 500, which was an agreed part of the said new template.

But this is contrary to JAMB position, which came out last week to deny that the Point System, circulating in the public space was officially from it, though it was available on its website. This denial came about six days after the information hit the public space. Interestingly, though the new admission template became public Tuesday last week, about two or three days later, an update was also released, relating to the fees the institutions should charge for the screening exercise, which is the last stage of the admission process.

The template JAMB refused to acknowledge provided that candidates submitting only one O’ Level result, NECO or WAEC with relevant subjects already score 10 points, while those with two sittings would only get two points.

It also stated that “next point grades fall into the O’ Level grades, where each grade would have its equivalent point:  A=6 marks, B=4 marks and C=3 marks. So, the higher a candidate’s grades, the better his or her chances of securing admission this year.

“The next point is the UTME scores, where each score range has its equivalent point, which can be summarised thus: 180-200=20-23 marks, 200-250=24-33 points, 251-300=34-43 and 300-400=44-60 points,” JAMB said.

The final admission requires a screening exercise, which will draw a fee from the students. This was later pegged at N2, 500. When the post-UME was introduced by the universities, with each using different modalities for its examination, one of the arguments against it was the money being charged by these institutions, especially since the fees was perceived by many to be on the high side. But the institutions’ administrators said then that there was no way they could conduct the exam without charging a fee, because the human and material resources involved was at a fee.

However, with the new template, the erasure of the Post-UME, as being canvassed by the Minister of Education, is being subtly implemented, because though the new template does not make provision for examination to be conducted by the tertiary institutions, but the cost of the new screening exercise, which will replace Post-UME, is to be borne by students.

Before and during the Post-UME era, though students were screened, but they did not pay for the exercise. So many are wondering why the new arrangement is different.

Chukwu Okafor, a parent, said though the new template is good, the demand for payment is a huge minus. According to him, the payment is a continuation of the Post-UME era, just that now students are not going to write examination.

“This just justified the claims by some parents that the Post-UME was introduced by tertiary institutions principally for revenue sake,” he said. “The claim of quality control was only played up as a good reason for the introduction of the policy. So, how will you describe paying for screening? I went through a university and was screened, but I did not pay for the exercise.”

Stephen Bassey, a secondary school teacher, said rather than JAMB embarking on a process that would reduce its power, it should have created a modality that is capable of strengthening the process, even if such would require internal re-engineering of its system so that exams are better rated.

“The best option would have been a total cancellation of Post-UME and then JAMB sitting up to ensure that the loopholes in its system are blocked, so that its exam are more credible,” he said. He felt the introduction of fees for screening does not make sense and should be removed from the new process.

Hassan Soweto, National Coordinator of Education Right Campaign (ERC), described the new template arrived at by JAMB and universities’ administrators as just playing with figure. In his view, the new template cannot solve a fundamental crisis national tertiary institutions face, especially at the admission level. According to him, the fundamental crisis is that existing institutions are inadequate for the huge number of applicants and until government comes up with a solution to address this problem, no matter the recommended template, the admission process will continue to be manipulated. It is the situation that encourages many elements within JAMB and the university system to manipulate the process in exchange for money.

“Therefore, this new template does not call for celebration, as the fundamental issues are yet to be addressed. And this indicates the cluelessness of the government of the day, because this is not a new issue,” he said.

On the clause in the new template requiring that candidates should pay for screening, Soweto noted that before the new announcement, the federal government, through the Minister of Education, had announced the cancellation of Post-UME, which was criticised by the universities.

He is of the view that what has happened now with regards to the new model is that government, together with the exam body and universities have worked out a process that will ensure that the universities continue to exploit candidates through the admission process by charging a fee for screening, while JAMB also have its way.

“Our organisation is opposed to any fee for admission seekers, whether for screening or Post-UME,” he said. “We want to ask government the exact purpose the screening is serving that should warrant candidates parting with money. The whole exercise is fraudulent and exploitative. No kobo should be charged.”

He explained that just as JAMB and Post-UME are not malpractice proof, so also are WAEC and NECO. So, using a combination of O’ Level result and JAMB for the admission is mere motion with no movement.

“Has the post-UME not been inundated with claims of manipulation and irregularities,” he queried. “Over the years, WAEC and NECO have also been criticised for the same thing. The new template will suffer the same setback as others before it.”

Ejiogu Aloy, a professor of education administration at the University of Lagos, said the former accusation was that the universities were ripping off students with the post-UME.

“Is this going to abate, with the candidates required to pay a fee for screening? It is all just rigmarole. We take two steps forward and nine steps backward.”

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