Reviewing higher institutions’ admission process

By Bunmi Ishola

THE legal instrument establishing the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) was promulgated by the Act (No. 2 of 1978) of the Federal Military Government on 13th February, 1978. Before then, institutions conducted their individual entrance examinations. The establishment of JAMB was meant to harmonize admissions into tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The duty of the board was to conduct the entrance examinations into colleges of education, polytechnics and universities. This was to regulate the growing number of universities in the higher education system at the time. The idea of having the platform was to save parents and their children or wards the headache of having to apply and write examinations in various institutions. It was also to curb the possibility of road accidents, as students go to sit for examinations in schools that are far from their homes and states of residence.

Over the years, the examination body has been conducting examinations for applicants year in, year out. The body later introduced the Mock Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination which it tagged: “Mock-UTME”, on the 16th of March, 2017. It usually directs candidates to register for it just as they registered for the main UTME. The examination is also conducted online as there is also a biometric verification. Though the body said “it is optional’, it is obvious many parents will still pay for it. As if this was not enough, higher schools of learning in turn introduced post-UTME examinations and screenings conducted by each school. In all, higher institutions do not rely on the mock examinations or the actual UTME organised by the board.

Let’s look at the cost: This year alone, according to news reports, 176,408 candidates applied for this mock exam. It officially costs N1,000. That is N176,408,000. That is, apart from N4,700 (N3,500 for exam fee, N500 for cost of compulsory reading and N700 for JAMB registration) originally paid for the actual exam. Some cafes collect extra charges between N1,500 and N2,000. That means an applicant will eventually register with N6,200 or N6,700. So assuming 176,408 applicants register, that will be N829,117,600 that the board will make in that regard. Now, adding both together, it means the board will be making N1,005,525,600 from the conduct of selling forms alone this year. Still, during the examination, many students will still experience bad network and won’t be able to finish the exam as expected and will still sit for the next one.

JAMB and the Ministry of Education pegged the post-UTME screening fees for schools at N2,000. In reality, schools like the University of Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, collect N3,000 after adding the online charge. The Federal University of Technology, Akure, takes like N4,000 for their base fee and that is excluding their Remita charges. Federal Poly, Ede’s form costs N2,700 while Federal Polytechnic, Offa, charges N2,500. At Tai Solarin University of Education, Abeokuta, the post-UTME fee is N5,000 if you add the online charges. In all of this, it means an applicant will pay approximately N7,700 excluding online charges and charges from cafes (N4,700 for JAMB, N1,000 for mock-UTME, N2,000 for post-UTME or screening in the choice school).

Many are losing faith and doubting the credibility of the board in the way it conducts the exam and its mode of operation despite the humongous fees. For example, in 2016, reports had it that the entrance examination was incompetently organised and supervised. The names of some candidates were said to have appeared in states in which they did not apply. Marks were also alleged to have been jumbled, making some of the candidates to receive results even before writing the examinations. It was said that maybe the authorities of the examining body used the wrong software for script marking. JAMB apologised then and promised that there would not be a recurrence.

The introduction of the CBT software is also a cause for worry. Applicants complain year in, year out of bad network during the course of writing their examinations. Many of them get so frustrated during and after the examinations since there is no way to rectify whatever anomaly that this might have caused. In view of this kind of cases, one can deduce why higher institutions do not have faith in the conduct of the examination, prompting them to go back to the idea of conducting examinations for students all over again. It is likely the reason they insist on the screenings and post-UTME exams. Why should parents be paying for JAMB to conduct exams and still need to pay individual schools all over again for another set of exams for the same purpose? What purpose does the mock-UTME serve? Why not scrap the entire process and allow schools to handle their entrance exams so as to save applicants and their parents the stress and unnecessary fees that come with this?

Now, since individual universities began conducting post-UTME examinations for candidates apart from the one conducted by JAMB, JAMB’s relevance has diminished. You can pass UTME but if you fail the school’s exam or screening, you can’t get admission. JAMB examinations now seem to be merely an unnecessary stepping stone. This brings up the question of the relevance of JAMB all over again as it does not solely determine the admission of students any longer. It is obvious that JAMB is no longer serving any useful purpose. It is high time the Federal Government scrapped the body and stopped wasting taxpayers’ money in this regard as it does not stop higher institutions of learning from conducting another round of cumbersome exams for students. Most students that pass UTME at times do not get admission after the post-UTME or screening conducted by these schools. That means passing JAMB’s matriculation exam has become mere play. One begins to wonder what the essence of JAMB examination really is at this juncture.