Education
–
The federal government is to sanction any Nigerian university which conducts post unified tertiary matriculation examination to admit students into their schools
| By Anayo Ezugwu | Jul 11, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT |
THE federal government is determined to implement the ban on Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, Post-UTME, conducted by tertiary institutions for admission into universities and other higher schools of learning in Nigeria. Adamu Adamu, minister of education, said any institution that violates the directive would be punished by the federal government.
“The ban is with immediate effect and under no circumstance should any institution violate the directive. Those who have already advertised for the conduct of the Post-UTME under any guise should stop the exercise immediately. If any tertiary institution has already conducted Post-UTME, such an exercise stands annulled and money taken from candidates must be refunded immediately,” he said.
According to the minister, the emphasis became necessary to ensure that no stakeholder was left in doubt about government’s position on the matter. “For the avoidance of doubt, any educational institution, after secondary education, is regarded as a tertiary institution. Therefore, all tertiary institutions, by whatever name it is called, after secondary education, must be subjected to admission through JAMB.”
Adamu said universities were at liberty to expel any student who failed to meet up with the requirements for any degree enrolled for. He based his position on the fact that there is no empirical evidence to show that since the inception of Post-UTME, universities had been having better students, adding that students were still being expelled annually for low performance, even as they gained admission through Post-UTME.
He said parents and guardians spend fortunes on transportation, hotel accommodation, examination fees and sundry costs, just for their wards to gain admission into universities; while in some cases, parents die in the process of travelling to secure admission for their wards, a situation he described as painful and avoidable.
Adamu directed the National Universities Commission, NUC, and the appropriate departments in the ministry to communicate this directive to relevant agencies and institutions to ensure strict compliance.
Following this declaration, the management of the University of Benin, Edo State, announced the suspension of its Post-UTME. Michael Osasuyi, public relations officer of the university, on Tuesday, June 28, said that the suspension was with immediate effect and in compliance with the federal government’s directive. “We are suspending this exercise now, in compliance with the federal government directive. We are suspending forthwith,” he said.
The screening was scheduled to begin on June 27 and last for two weeks. It was also learnt that some candidates, whose tests were supposed to take place on Monday and Tuesday showed up for the exercise before they were informed of the suspension.
But the university’s spokesman called for calm, adding that the institution would communicate further information on the suspension to its prospective students. “They (candidates) should just be calm and rest assured that the University of Benin will not in any way flout the federal government’s directive and will not in any way undermine their choice for the university,” he said.
The minister had on June 2, said it had confidence in the examinations conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, and that there was no need for other examinations to be conducted by universities after JAMB exams. “As far as I am concerned, the nation has confidence in what JAMB is doing, the universities should not be holding another examination and if the universities have any complaint against JAMB, let them bring it and then we address it.
“If JAMB is qualified enough to conduct tests and they have conducted test, then there will be no need to conduct another test for students to gain admission. The ministry expects that all candidates given admission must be from JAMB. But JAMB must stop issuing admission letters, JAMB should get in touch with institutions before offering admission to students.”
|
Tags:
