The
raging controversy over what criteria should be used to admit
candidates into tertiary institutions and who determines it is
unnecessary and embarrassing as it advertises Nigeria as a nation
without a clear system and without standards.
For more than five decades, universities and other tertiary
institutions in the country have taken in students without any hitch. It
is, therefore, incomprehensible that the 2016 admission exercise is so
mired in crisis.Indeed, contrary to claims, the scrapping of post-UTME
tests is not enough to cause chaos in this year’s admission process.
Prior to the introduction of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation
Board (JAMB) and its allied post-UTME which came much later, tertiary
institutions in the country were admitting candidates without
contention. Qualified candidates applied to the individual institutions
and the best were offered admission.
The final authority on
admission should be the Senate of each university and not JAMB. JAMB’s
assignment should end with the conduct of the entrance examination and
release of the results. The institutions have the legal right to admit
qualified and suitable candidates based on their established standards
as part of their autonomy.
The setting of a flat cut-off mark of 180 by JAMB is also an
aberration. Ideally, JAMB, after releasing its results, should allow the
universities to determine their minimum cut-off marks, which ought to
vary from one institution to another as the difference between
institutions distinguishes them. All the universities cannot, therefore,
have the same standard or adopt the same criteria for admission.
The
current contention arose after JAMB was alleged to have approved a
point system as an option for admission, insisting that the Federal
Government gave the nod. It, however, stated that the point system being
peddled was a mere illustration. The point system, of course, has been
in use by some institutions for some time in place of the post-UTME.
But
JAMB clarified the position that rather than resort to the much-touted
point system, the Federal Government had approved the re-enforcement of
the admission guidelines as recognised by law. The three admission
pillars, according to JAMB, are merit, catchment area and educationally
disadvantaged states. But that is stating the obvious for there has
never been a time the so-called three pillars were ignored in the
admission process. Even at that, the concept of “educationally
disadvantaged states” needs to be redefined since every state of the
federation now has no less than two universities.
The nation will, however, return to the old order by re-introducing
Advanced Levels (A/L). Age is an important issue when it comes to
tertiary level education because there is little supervision of the
student. Only a mind that is fully developed with a vision of what he or
she wants can’t easily be influenced. The prevalence of cults in
Nigeria’s educational institutions is partly due to the immaturity of
the students.
The universities should be allowed to brand their
admission the way they want. In the United States and UK, there is the
scholastic aptitude test (SAT) and A/Levels, that some universities
require a certain grade as precondition for admission. The monopoly of
university admission by JAMB has lowered the admission standards and
that is why 180 score over 400 is deemed acceptable for admission.
Nigeria with its current educational system is merely promoting
mediocrity in a world where competition is keen and there is no room for
sloppiness of skills.
This newspaper insists that the very low
cut-off mark for entrance into Nigerian universities is deplorable and
can never produce the best brains the country needs. With standards so
low, this country is only institutionalising mediocrity.
There
must be a sensible way of setting standards. One is to go back to
advanced Level system in which higher school certificate education of
two or more years prepare all students for university.
University
education is about excellence. But Nigerian universities have been
reduced to less than their worth. Nigeria cannot excel when all
universities are placed on the same level. Again, each university should
be free to set its minimum entry point based on the standard it has set
for itself.
Source: The Guardian
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