There has been a lot of argument for and against the Ministry of Education’s cancellation of Post-UTME (Post University Tertiary Matriculation Examinations), the latest being the one marshalled against the move by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). ASUU’s chief argument was that the Joint Action Matriculation Board (JAMB) examinations largely produced unqualified applicants that performs dismally after they are admitted into the nation’s universities, and that the post-UTME solely introduced by the universities a little over a decade ago has greatly reduced such low quality students, and has thus far improved the quality of graduates produced by the universities.
On the other hand, those who have argued for and supported the cancellation point to the largely-held view that the post-UTME is a cash-cow venture for the universities and nothing else. In the face of such passion-filled statements, here is my candid take:
First, it is not true as ASUU had said that JAMB examinations produces low quality applicants, and I wonder where they got that from, and what statistic they can cite to buttress that argument. On the contrary, the quality of students and graduates produced by the universities has deteriorated overtime particularly in the last fifteen years. Interestingly, it is also within this period that the post-UTME was introduced. But there is nothing to show either that it is the post-UTME that is responsible for the low quality of graduates that has been produced; rather the falling standards in the education sector of this country is symptomatic of the general decay in all sectors of our socio-political and economic life: lack of affordable healthcare (with our hospitals reduced to mere consulting rooms), poor infrastructure, abject poverty amidst a vast ocean of prosperity, lack of shelter, and lack of potable water. Everywhere you turn to in this country, there is decadence; and that is all due to the crisis of leadership the nation has experienced for well over forty years, and the education sector is not immune to that (not discountenancing, of course, the roles education authorities, teachers and lecturers, parents, and students themselves has immeasurably played in exacerbating the rot in the education sector; which is a serious matter for another day). In the Seventies, Eighties and even Nineties; our universities produced well qualified graduates, and in those glorious periods, there was no such thing as post-UTME but only JAMB. So, we need to be pragmatic in our approach, and proffer lasting solutions. We must treat the causal root, rather than mere symptoms. Therefore, JAMB is still relevant today as at when it was formed because there is need for a unified test for all Candidates seeking admission into the nation’s universities. But we must also agree that JAMB (especially its examinations and marking schemes) need to be reviewed and restructured to meet up with a twenty-first century economy.
Second, aside a unified test such as the JAMB examinations for all candidates seeking admission into the nation’s universities; the universities must also be allowed to administer tests like the post-UTME that meet their admission standards on applicants. However, a regulatory framework by the appropriate authorities need to be put in place to ensure that such tests are not used to exploit and extort the applicants because in far too many instances, that is what happens. To further ensure that they are not used as minting machines by the universities, the fees for such examinations should not be more than N2000. JAMB also must significantly reduce the cost of purchasing its forms, and I do not see why JAMB forms should be more than N3000. What is obtainable at the moment with both JAMB and the post-UTME is a total rip-off on hapless students.
Third, the Federal Ministry of Finance must understand that education is on the concurrent list in the nation’s constitution, and as such it has no legal authority to just issue policy statements and rules, and then expect them to be binding on state universities that are not under federal jurisdiction. This post-UTME cancellation issue is something that ought to have been discussed exhaustively by all relevant stakeholders under a broad forum for inputs to be made before it is implemented. You can’t just issue policy statements and rules, and then push them through people’s throats. It doesn’t work that way.
Lastly, we must stop politicizing education issues and honestly review these and other serious issues if we must make headway out of the mess in not just our universities but the education sector as a whole.
Eneruvie Enakoko
