 Controversy Is Its Other Name |
| Written by Victor Ugborgu | |
| Friday, 18 November 2011 | |
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Six
years after the introduction of post-University Matriculation
Examination, questions are still being asked about its desirability
Its
birth was trailed by controversy. Six years after, the controversy has
remained. The question is still being asked if the Post-University
Matriculation Examination, otherwise known as Post-UME, is really
desirable.
The
policy was introduced in 2005, by the Federal Ministry of Education to
allow university screen qualified candidates, to ascertain the
authenticity of the marks they scored in the Joint Admission and
Matriculation Board, JAMB, examination. The National Council on
Education had directed then that no university should charge each
participating student more than N1,000 for the exercise.
Chinwe
Obaji, then minister of education, had explained that the discovery of
students using fraudulent results to gain admission into universities
informed the post-JAMB test in 2005. She said the test
was an intervention by government to address the failure of JAMB. The
policy was later renamed Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination,
UTME, to accommodate polytechnics and colleges of education.
But
six years down the line, questions are being raised on the desirability
of the policy. Those who want the policy scrapped argued that the
system had been abused by some tertiary authorities, thereby making the
burden to outweigh its merits. Many Nigerians believe
that the results of the Post-UTME tests are being used by different
institutions for different purposes other than the original concept.
They have argued that Post-UTME contravened the law establishing JAMB
and the directives of the National Council on Education stipulating
that a maximum of N1, 000 fee be charged for the exercise. Some
institutions now charge as high as N6,000 and invite candidates far
more than their carrying capacities to boost their revenue from the
exercise. This is part of what has fuelled the agitation for the
abolition of the policy.
Recently,
the Senate set up a committee headed by Uche Chukwumerije to determine
the desirability or otherwise of the UTME examination. Obaji appeared
before the committee last week and said she had discovered while in
office as minister that most students who scored high in
JAMB could not even write correct sentences or defend such scores,
hence the introduction of the policy. She regretted that most
universities had turned the exercise into another ‘honey pot.’ Obaji
said the policy had outlived its usefulness, and, therefore, suggests
that it should be scrapped. “The test was a credible
means of screening and filtering qualified candidates in the face of
the limited capacity for admissions into tertiary institutions. But the
effort to weed out unqualified candidates in the admission process
through post-JAMB has also been abused by the universities. Governors
had taken over admissions in federal universities, making it difficult
for people without connections to gain admissions,” she told the senate
committee.
Dibu
Ojerinde, a professor and registrar, JAMB, called for its cancellation,
accusing universities of using the test to rip-off
university admission-seekers. He took the vice chancellors of Nigerian
universities to the cleaners, accusing them of using the post-entrance
examination to extort money from innocent youths seeking university
admission. He also chided his predecessors in office for introducing
such a repulsive policy.
Ojerinde told the Senate probe panel on October 26, that the post UME was illegal because it was the same university administrators who set JAMB questions and mark them, that turn round to question the credibility of the university entrance examination.
He
suggested that the universities should only do screening of qualified
candidates rather than conduct an additional examination, adding that
the universities also have mechanisms for checking and flushing out
those who entered the system through fraudulent means. “It is too much
of a burden to the poor people to pay as much as N5,000 to write the
UME, travel long distances to write the examination and then look for a
godfather to push them through,” the professor said.
Two
weeks ago, the Imo State House of Assembly set up an ad hoc committee
headed by Samuel Anyanwu to look into the issues surrounding the
introduction, implementation and abuse of the policy. The assembly is
determined to abolish the post-UME examinations in all the state’s
tertiary institutions. The assembly’s decision followed a motion by
Acho Ihim, member,representing Okigwe constit-uency, calling for the
abolition of post-JAMB examination in Imo State University and Imo
State Polytechnic. Ihim alleged that admission processes in the higher
institutions were characterised by insincerity and corruption on the
part of various school authorities. “We gained admission into
universities and polytechnics on merit. The process of gaining
admission then was very sincere. But today, it has been bastardised and
commercialised. School authorities are now interested in your money or
your laps. It is now a gold mine. Last year, Imo State University
collected money from all students seeking admission for the post-UTME,
yet there was no examination,” he alleged.
Donatus Ozoemena, deputy speaker, said the motion was in the best interest of parents and students. He urged other lawmakers in
other states to support it. He maintained that the abolition would, no
doubt, restore the confidence of both parents and students in the
education sector and eliminate the extortionist tendencies in the
school system.
Last
week, vice chancellors of Nigerian universities unanimously sought the
cancellation UTME and the return to the old system whereby different
entrance examinations were conducted for universities, polytechnics and
Colleges of Education.
Ishaq
Oloyede, chairman, committee of vice chancellors and vice chancellor of
the University of Ilorin, told the senate committee on education that
it was improper to use the same examination to admit students into
universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. Oloyede said JAMB
should revert to UME for the universities and separate examinations for
polytechnics and colleges of education as it was before 2009. He argued
that the screening was to ascertain if the candidates were suitable for
university education, but admitted that there were some abuses in the
conduct of the Post-UME tests conducted by the universities.
But
Olufemi Bamiro, former vice chancellor, university of Ibadan, opposed
the scrapping of the policy by the National Assembly. He advocated that
other tertiary institutions should apply the University of Ibadan’s
model instead of conducting a fresh examination for the students. “The
system in the University of Ibadan is a kind of interaction based on
information elicitation technique with a view to authenticating the
claims of the candidate’s academic profile. In UI’s Post-UME
interaction model, candidates are not made to sit for another set of
examination. Rather, it is an interaction of less than 20 minutes
during which candidates are orally asked a few questions relating to
their proposed fields of study. UI’s post-UME model is so transparent
that every candidate knows his fate immediately. Where is the burden in
this exercise?” he queried.
He
said those who call for the cancellation of this type of quality
assurance mechanism, were doing so as a result of ignorance or based on
their less informed scholastic research into the matter. “If
universities will not become breeding grounds for ill-baked and
sophomoric graduates, then, post-UME test must remain to be Part of our
admission process criteria. Since its introduction in UI four years
ago, the percentage of withdrawal level has reduced drastically. In
fact, Post-UME test has a correlation with the general good performance
at the under graduate level. Between 2000 and 2008, the average
first-class graduates we had was 63, but in 2009, the year of the first
set of Post-UME candidates, we have 99 students graduating with first
class,” he said.
Bamiro
urged members of the National Assembly not to tamper with the policy
without proper data to back up their action. “As a matter of fact,
legislating without data is like embarking on a journey without a road
map. The National Assembly must not make a shipwreck of this brilliant
idea of Post-UME test because this motion looks more like on act of
impulse than calm deliberation,” the professor suggested.
Isaac
Adebayo Adeyemi, vice chancellor of Bells University of Technology,
Ota, Ogun State, advised against the scrapping of the policy and
described the proposal as visionless and a ploy to destabilise the
nation’s educational sector.
“The
Post-JAMB is to further determine performance in order to admit the
best students. There are some students that have high scores in JAMB
and failed the University test. So, the question is, how did they
achieve the high scores? Polytechnics, universities and colleges of
education should be allowed to put in place modalities in admitting
their best students,” he said.
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