Post UTME Scrapping Is Disastrous To Nigeria’s Education Sector-Obaji
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A former Minister of Education, Prof. Chinwe Obaji, has said the cancellation of the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination by the Federal Government will spell doom for the education sector of the country.
Obaji, who spoke on Thursday on the sideline of a summit organised by the Education Writers’ Association of Nigeria at the University of Lagos, added that the development would also affect the merit system.
The former minister introduced the post-UTME exercise in 2005 under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
She said, “In the year 2005, under my leadership, there were certain conditions that necessitated the exercise. We discovered that there was no correlation between JAMBS scores (now UTME) and performances of students when they finally get into school. The quality of exam was also nothing to write home about. There were miracle centres at the time.
“There was also an endless admission process. Sometimes, universities continued admitting students even till matriculation period. I also felt that the universities should also be part of the input because you cannot foist any type of students on the universities. So, I wanted the universities to ensure that those coming in were of the best quality.
“That was why I introduced the exercise. It’s 11 years now, and I don’t know if the situation has changed. The people in the universities are the best to know.
“But with the cancellation, we are going back to the dark days when if you don’t know anybody, you cannot gain admission. For example, the general cut-off mark is 180. For a school like UNILAG, let’s assume it can take 5,000 students, how many students have scored more than 180 and have also chosen UNILAG as first choice? Let’s say over 100,000 students. So, how will the school choose? In the end, it will turn to peo
The President of the Academic Staff Union Universities, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, said the scrapping was a violation of the rights of the senate of universities to decide those to be admitted into the school.
“The scrapping of post-UTME is a step in the wrong direction. We believe the screening is necessary and it has enhanced the quality of entrants into the university. Since the introduction, the quality of students has improved. So, we think the government cannot stop it. It is the purview of the university senate to determine the quality of students that come in. Post-UTME will help us to get the best. So scrapping it is wrong,” he said.
A former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Prof. Peter Okebukola, said there was a need for the exercise to be reformed, adding that many varsities had turned it to a money-making venture.
He noted that at the inception, all schools were asked not to take above N1,000, but now some schools charged as high as N5,000 for the exercise.
“If the quality of processing is held constant, the result of admitting poor quality secondary school leavers into the university system are graduates whose quality has a high chance of being compromised. Hence, to shoot for five-star quality from the present one-star, the admission process through the UTME and post-UTME, should move a notch or two high in stringency,” he added.
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