CANDIDATES seeking university admission through Direct Entry, IJMB and JUPEB have appealed to the registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board to extend the 2019 direct entry registration, saying that the closure of the portal in February was unusual and unproductive.
The candidates who made the appeal through the Association of Stakeholders for Education Advancement of Nigeria (ASEAN) said the closure of the portal during the last general election in February had created uncertainty for thousands of university admission seekers.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Monday, the national president of the group, Comrade Olawuyi Olufemi, lamented that admission seekers are likely to waste one year with the sudden closure of the portal, and that the development could cause, “serious setback for these candidates and for the society at large.”
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“The closure of the Direct Entry registration in February 2019 was unusual. From the previous practice, the Direct Entry portal normally closes by July every year. This explains why the Advanced Level candidates never expected the portal to close that soon.
“There was not enough publicity for the A Level, IJMB, JUPEB and diploma students before the closure of the DE portal. The notification was only available to the UTME candidates and people who visited the JAMB portal during the time.
“UTME and DE are two forms meant for two different categories of candidates at different times, and so their portals are never expected to close the same time.
“We also expect that any change in the existing policies should be given wide publicity through the mass media and enough time given to effect needed changes. Last year, the JAMB registrar closed the 2018 DE portal in July. So, no one would expect same JAMB registrar to change the usual closure period to February.
“Furthermore, most of the affected students have neither their examination numbers, nor have seen their results with which to register for the direct entry as at the time the portal was closed in February 2019.”