By Babatunde Ayedoju
Beyond increasing access, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) needs to pay more attention to quality in its admission policies.
This was the opinion of parents and teachers who spoke with THE HOPE in reaction to decisions taken at the JAMB’s policy meeting last week.
Among other decisions reached at the meeting, the Board had announced that candidates seeking admission into education programmes and agriculture-related non-engineering courses would no longer be required to sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The Board also resolved that candidates seeking admission into universities and colleges of nursing science nationwide must have scored at least 150 at the just concluded UTME.
In her reaction, a parent, Mrs. Mary Adebayo, questioned the rationale behind JAMB’s decision to waive UTME for students pursuing education and agriculture, saying, “If I am right, I think they are doing it to make the two courses attractive to students, but they don’t know that they are discouraging students from studying the courses the more.
“They are indirectly telling students that those two courses are not students’ preferences. If they cannot stop students seeking to study Law, Medicine, Nursing, Computer Science and other courses from taking UTME, why do they have to treat education and agriculture separately?”
Adebayo warned that this step would make students think that there is no prospect in studying education or agriculture, adding that it is coming at a time when it is necessary to improve on the standard of education in the country.
Concerning the 150 cut off mark for admission into universities and colleges of nursing, Adebayo stated that there is nothing wrong in it but added that some students would still not be admitted even after scoring that mark.
“For instance, if in a particular course there is a space for just 100 students, and those who scored more than 200 are up to 300, definitely, any student who scored 150 will not be admitted,” she added.
Similarly, a teacher, Mr Gideon Ekujumi, said that while the idea of waiving UTME for education and agriculture is good, caution must be exercised in implementing it.
He said that as much as Nigeria needs more teachers and agriculturists, emphasis must be laid on their competence, not just their population.
Ekujumi emphasised that while this step would help solve shortage of teachers and food insecurity, and address financial or examination pressure on poor students, it could lower academic standards, especially when the screening process is weak.
Ekujumi stated that this development could make students see agriculture and education as courses for the weak, adding that some may even choose them in order to avoid UTME.
He also warned that fixing 150 as cut off mark for admission could lay a foundation for poor quality and incompetent professionals subsequently.
Another teacher and farmer, Mr Paul Isah, stated that while the waiver of UTME for some admission seekers might be geared towards provoking interest of students in agriculture, studying agriculture does not make anybody a farmer.
This, he said, is because even after studying agriculture, some of them may still choose to pursue other career paths.