By Afam Ikeakanam
It is no longer news that the Federal Government through the Education Minister, Adamu Adamu, has scrapped the Post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (Post UTME) conducted by universities for the sole purpose of admitting students. The Post UTME is organised after the first general examination, the UTME, conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The Post UTME was introduced in 2005 by the then Education Minister, Chinwe Obaji, against the backdrop that the integrity of the UTME conducted by JAMB was undoubtedly questionable. In 2011, when I sat for the UTME, the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the National Examinations Council Senior School Certificate Examination (NECO SSCE), the situation had not gotten any better. Examination malpractice was the order of the day in some schools (mine excluded) and in some UTME centres. Impersonation was not a strange occurrence in the UTME either. A handful of the UTME candidates thronged the “miracle centres” where expos and aids by invigilators were legitimate. What pricked me the most was the fact that some parents encouraged their children to partake in such disdainful acts either by sponsoring the payment for the miracle centres or aiding them directly in the malpractice. I will never forget the sight of a mother who smuggled a handset to her son after he had passed the security check. This goes to show the rot in the value system of our society.
The poor correlation between the UTME scores and the performances of many candidates in the university was another reason which led to the introduction of the Post UTME. There was the case of a supposedly outstanding female candidate with eight distinctions (A1) at the senior school certificate examination and 284 in the JAMB conducted examination who applied to study economics at the University of Ibadan. Impressed by her stellar performance, the University invited her for an oral interview. The panelists asked her what GDP means and alas, she began to fidget and later confessed that the results were not authentically hers as someone had written the examinations on her behalf. Another case in hand is that of a student who applied to study English and obtained 275 in the UTME and sadly could not spell “island, tomorrow and occasion.”[i] These anomalies would have gone unnoticed if not for the Post UTME exercise.
Prof. Abel Olayinka, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, in his publication, Agenda for the Accelerated Development of the University of Ibadan through Consolidation and Innovation 2015-2020, reveals that since the introduction of the Post UTME in his university, the withdrawal rate from the University at the end of the first year of study dropped drastically from 12% in 2005 to 1.4% in 2014. He also reveals that the overall performance of first year students which stood at 88% as at 2005 had improved to 98.1% in 2014. Hence, in the long-run, the graduation rates of the University would be better.
The Registrar of JAMB, Prof. ‘Dibu Ojerinde, deserves our commendation for the measures he has introduced to reduce examination malpractices in the UTME to its barest minimum. One of such measures is the computerisation of the examination, i.e., Computer Based Testing (CBT). I am, however, uncomfortable with this new directive from the Federal Government and the total computerisation of the UTME as the government has failed to consider some foundational issues. Yes, we are in the internet age where a two year old can operate an iPad better than his/her parent, however, we have a handful of our population who live in abject poverty in the rural and remotest parts of the nation who do not have access to well-equipped schools; their best bet is a classroom under a tree. So tell me, how will someone from such a place be able to undertake an examination using a computer when he/she has never operated one before? This is one of our many problems of not having a credible national database. Before coming up with this frivolous policy, the government should have ensured computer studies be made compulsory from the primary to secondary school level and made adequate provision of computer systems to every government owned school.
Also, the hitches experienced in the conduct of the UTME since the introduction of the CBT till this year’s examination show that JAMB still has a lot of work to do in order to perfect the CBT system. Some candidates were disadvantaged as there were system failures and slow network in some of the centres. Also, despite the fact that the examination is computer based, candidates do not know their scores till about two to three days after the exam which might still give room for some wuru wuru (fraud) because of the society we are in. This reveals that 100% confidence cannot be reposed in the UTME as at now. Ideally, if these were done, then we would begin to consider having a 100% computer based UTME or maybe the possibility of scrapping the Post UTME.
I believe that institutions of learning, particularly universities, should have a say in the quantity and quality of students they admit. The President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, buttressed this point while reacting to the directive. He said:
“It is the duty of the university senate to set the cut-off marks for each of their programmes and set the guidelines to determine who is qualified for admission. The existence of JAMB or whatever score it sets cannot take away the statutory right of every university to determine who is qualified for their admission because that is vested in the senate of every university…”[ii]
JAMB should be a clearing house like the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service in the United Kingdom. While I advocate for the continuation of the Post UTME, I detest the current practice of some universities by making the process a major source of their internally generated funds.
At a time like this, I believe the Minister should be concerned with more pertinent issues which are impeding the progress of our education sector. He should tackle the longtime problem of poor funding of our tertiary institutions (research institutes as well). This singular problem has affected prominent universities like the University of Ibadan, University of Lagos and Obafemi Awolowo University which have had to close down at one point in time or the other due to students’ protests as a result of poor municipal services and decaying academic and hostel facilities. He should also endeavour to realign our polytechnics with their initial purpose. Polytechnics should focus primarily on technical and applied sciences and not on programmes in arts, management and the social sciences as is the case in most of our polytechnics. He should also collaborate with JAMB, NECO and WAEC to ensure an integrity check be done on the conduct of their examinations so as to strengthen the credibility of their results.
Another far-reaching decision to the effect that the general minimum cut-off mark for admissions into universities and other degree awarding institutions be pegged at 180 was made at the Combined Policy Meeting on Admissions. This idea is preposterous. While ensuring that the teeming youths be educated, the value of university education should not be watered-down because university education is not meant for everyone. Universities should attract the best of the best intellectuals. Everybody deserves to be offered an opportunity, but if university education keeps being open to everyone irrespective of one’s intellectual capacity, then the result will be that the degrees awarded by our ivory towers would be worthless and being a graduate will be meaningless. Sadly, this seems to be already playing out in our country.
Away from the hullabaloo caused by the scrapping of the Post UTME, the University of Ibadan’s (UI) admission policy must be admired by all and sundry. No wonder it is unarguably the nation’s best. For you to get admitted into UI, you do not need to know anybody, just be among the best and your admission is sure. Unlike what obtains in some other universities where you have the Vice-Chancellor’s, Dean’s, and even the traditional ruler’s list. In those universities, most admissions depend on one’s level of influence. In 2014, the daughter of the dean of a faculty in UI applied to study a course within the faculty her parent headed. In the Post UTME, she obtained a mark just lower than the cut-off mark for admission into that course by one point. Ibadan as usual placed merit above influence as she was denied admission to that course of study. If it were to be in some other universities, what would have happened? I am sure your guess is as good as mine. The efficient and transparent University of Ibadan’s admission model should be adopted in all our universities if the prestige of our ivory towers must be maintained.
Afam Ikeakanam is a campus journalist and final year Law student of the University of Ibadan and can be reached via afamikeakanam@gmail.com.
[i] Sunday Saanu. “Why Post-UTME Test Must Stay.” http://ui.edu.ng/postume (Accessed, June 8, 2016).
[ii] http://punchng.com/scrapping-post-utme-tragic-mistake-afe-babalola-others/ (Accessed June 8, 2016).
