Nigeria’s Education Minister, Malam Adamu
Adamu has reiterated that the ban on Post Unified Tertiary matriculation
Examination is with immediate effect, and under no circumstance should any
institution violate the directive.
Post Unified Tertiary matriculation
Examination, otherwise known as Post-UTME is conducted by Tertiary Institutions
for admission into Universities and other higher institutions of learning in
Nigeria.
While giving the directive on Monday in
Abuja, the Minister explained that although he had made the issue known
earlier, but emphasis has become necessary in order to ensure that no
stakeholder is left in doubt as to government position on the Post UTME matter.
He said the responsibility for admission into
public tertiary institutions lies solely with the Joint Admissions and
Matriculation Board (JAMB) and under no circumstance should any institution
take over the responsibility by proxy.
“For the avoidance of doubt, any educational
institution after secondary education is regarded as a tertiary institution.
Therefore all tertiary institutions,
Polytechnics, Colleges of Education, Universities or by whatever name it is
called after secondary education must be subjected to admission through the
JAMB. At the end of probationary admission by JAMB, the candidates can be
cleared (screened) for final admission.
For any institution with a shortfall in
admission, such institution can revert to JAMB for supplementary admission.
Clearing in this case (screening) entails only the verification of certificates
of the candidates, JAMB scores, and any other physical examination to ensure
that such candidates are not cultists.
After this, the candidates are qualified for
matriculation. Such screening should be at no cost to the parents or students
and should be done upon resumption in order to avoid unnecessary travels in
search of admission,” the Minister explained.
Malam Adamu decried the situation where final
year students in Nigeria secondary schools are subjected to too many
examinations all in one year, describing it as traumatic, exploitative and absolutely
unnecessary.
According to Adamu, mere admission into the
University does not guarantee any student the award of a degree until such a
student successfully goes through a minimum of eight examinations (for 4-year
courses) or ten and twelve examinations (for 5 and 6 year courses), among other
requirements.
The Minister expressed worry over reasons why
any university would not be satisfied with examining a student for eight, ten
or twelve times for the award of a degree, but would rather sort to conducting
entry examinations.
He said Universities are at liberty to expel
any student who fails to meet up with the requirements of the award of any
degree enrolled for.
The Minister also stated that there has been
no empirical evidence to show that since the inception of Post-UTME,
Universities have been having better quality students, but that students are
still being expelled on a yearly basis for low performance even as they gained
admission through Post-UTME.
Plight of parents/Guardians
Furthermore, Malam Adamu said he is deeply concerned about the plight of parents/guardians who spend fortunes on transportation, hotel accommodation, examination fees and sundry costs, just for their wards to gain admission into Universities, that such practice negates the Buhari Administration’s resolve to make education affordable for Nigerians.
Furthermore, Malam Adamu said he is deeply concerned about the plight of parents/guardians who spend fortunes on transportation, hotel accommodation, examination fees and sundry costs, just for their wards to gain admission into Universities, that such practice negates the Buhari Administration’s resolve to make education affordable for Nigerians.
The Minister said he is also mindful of
reported cases where some staff of tertiary institutions take undue advantage
of the girl-child in her quest to gain admission into the system.
He acknowledged some cases where parents die
in the process of travelling to secure admission for their wards, and never
live to see those children through, a situation he described as painful and
avoidable.
compliance
The Minister has however directed the National Universities Commission (NUC) and appropriate departments in the Ministry to communicate the directive to relevant agencies and institutions to ensure strict compliance.
The Minister has however directed the National Universities Commission (NUC) and appropriate departments in the Ministry to communicate the directive to relevant agencies and institutions to ensure strict compliance.
Malam Adamu warned higher institutions that
have already advertised for the conduct of the Post-UTME under any guise to
stop the exercise immediately as any university caught conducting Post-UTMNE
will face appropriate sanctions.
“if any tertiary Institution has already
conducted Post-UTME, such an exercise stands annulled and money taken from such
candidates must be refunded immediately,” the Minister added.
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