>>These and many more were worries disturbing the peace of the young man, who wants to study Law at the Nnamdi Azikwe University, Awka, Anambra State. Already, he scored 268 in the UTME held earlier in the year. This same dilemma confronts many of the candidates looking forward to securing admission to higher institutions in the country this year. Apart from this, some universities have already conducted this year’s post-UTME, just as many have advertised and collected examination fees from admission seekers. Indeed to clear this impasse, our correspondent gathered exclusively that the Minister of Education, Mr. Adamu Adamu, would speak on Tuesday (today) on the issue. A Deputy Director (Press) in the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Bem Goong, confirmed this to our correspondent on Monday. “Well, if you want further clarification on the issue, wait for Tuesday. The minister will speak on it”, Goong told our correspondent. The minister had while declaring open a Combined Policy Meeting on admission to universities, polytechnics and other higher institutions, on Thursday in Abuja, said it was unnecessary subjecting candidates to another round of examination after the UTME conducted by JAMB. But while many stakeholders like the former Pro-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Chief Afe Babaa (SAN), have criticised the move to stop the post-UTME, the immediate past Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Peter Okebukola, says there is need to handle the issue with caution. According to Okebukola, the post-UTME as practised in many of the universities nowadays is far from what stakeholders agreed on in 2004. He notes, “It was a tough battle which we fought under the leadership of Mrs. Chinwe Obaji as Minister of Education. We got the blessing of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the National Assembly to do the following: (a) maximum charge to candidates for the exercise should be N1,000; and (b) candidates should be screened not with the kind of test used by JAMB but through other mechanisms. The screening was agreed with all vice-chancellors to be through oral interview and essay, which JAMB’s assessment does not cover. “More than ever before, we need to admit into our universities, secondary school leavers, from the large pool, who have at least two characteristics. (A) They must have the minimum cognitive competence in the relevant subjects in the discipline they wish to study; and (b) competence in written and oral English, critical thinking and ability to present ideas in logical sequence befitting of undergraduates in Africa’s most-expansive and well- regarded university system. JAMB’s UTME targets only the first characteristic; while the university-level screening should measure the second.” Contributing, the VC, Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State, Prof. Debo Adeyewa, calls for a more appropriate concept of “screening” to select the best candidates for university education. He states, “In the first place, we need to recollect the circumstances that necessitated the post-UTME examination by universities. The examinations conducted by JAMB were not credible and every sincere citizen of this country would readily attest to this. The ‘fantastic’ scores obtained through JAMB were neither correlating with the results of post-UTME conducted in universities nor with their poor performances after admission. In fact, we found that the most credible and reliable range of scores were those within 200 – 240 marks. “Although the credibility of JAMB scores has improved recently with the computer-based examinations, it is too soon to conclude that the credibility issue has been put to rest. “It is also important to realise that each university is autonomous and could decide on the parameters for admission, including the need for interviews. I would subscribe, therefore, to the more appropriate concept of “screening” to select the best candidates even if post-UTME is scrapped.” Meanwhile, a lecturer in the Department of Psychology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Prof. Toba Elegbeleye, says the scrapping of post-UTME and adopting 180 as the cut-off mark would only make a bad case worse.
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