Why UTME should not be scrapped

The Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME), formerly known as the University Matriculation Examination (UME), is organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the body that conducts examinations for candidates seeking admission into tertiary educational institutions in the country.

The recent demand by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) that the Federal Government should scrap the UTME is very worrisome and there is a need to advise ASUU to quickly discontinue its agitation and abort its plan completely.

ASUU has claimed that only universities can set better and professional examinations for its candidates. It is very unfortunate that ASUU is coming up with this kind of demand at this time.

One would expect ASUU to rather give professional advice to the management of JAMB on how to conduct better examinations for its candidates, rather than calling for its cancellation.

ASUU appears to have forgotten that there is an unemployment dilemma in the country and by scrapping UTME, many people would lose their jobs and become a burden to their families and the nation at large. It is very obvious that ASUU’s quest will cause more harm than good to the people, the education sector and the nation.

Nevertheless, one may simply conclude that the cancellation of the post-UTME in the universities by the Federal Government is what pushed ASUU to come out with its latest demand.

It is true that universities were generating a lot of funds from the post-UTME, collecting certain amounts of money from candidates. Its cancellation is of course tantamount to revenue drop in the universities.

It should be noted that the decision by the Federal Government to cancel the post-UTME became necessary due to the complaints by the public, who tagged the entire process as being marked by extortion and exploitation of candidates by the universities. Therefore, JAMB should not be blamed for that development.

ASUU’s reasons to call for agitating for the cancellation of the UTME may seem to be the best for university education in the country, but it is not really so. The fact remains that the universities are looking for more ways of generating their revenue.

Then, giving the mandate of conducting entrance examinations and scrapping JAMB would be a huge opportunity for them to increase their internally generated revenue.

In this regard, it would be hard for one to support ASUU in its quest. It is often alleged that there is examination malpractice and corruption in the universities. It is no longer news that some lecturers befriend students and allow them to have access to examination questions ahead of time to enable them perform better others in their courses. This is very unprofessional and unacceptable.

JAMB, on the other hand, has been trying its best to curb malpractices. Therefore, The Federal Ministry of Education and other relevant bodies should not take the risk of supporting ASUU in its quest and allowing the universities to be conducting entrance examinations.

With all due respect to the professors, doctors and other academics who constitute ASUU, allowing the universities to conduct examinations before admitting candidates is unnecessary. The universities or ASUU should respectfully and kindly discontinue the agitation and allow JAMB to continue with its good work.

Conversely, ASUU can, from time to time, advise the management of JAMB on how to conduct examinations that can match the university standards. Scrapping UTME will further compound the unemployment dilemma in the country and cause more harm in the university system.

Awunah  Terwase

piusawunah@ymail.com