Barely 10 years after its introduction, is the post-UTME screening exercise, conducted by respective universities, polytechnics and colleges of education on its way out?
Its introduction to the admission process into the nation’s tertiary institutions by the Federal Government in 2005 was mainly to overhaul and restore sanity to the already sliding quality and standard characterizing the then Universities Matriculation Examination (UME) and the Monotechnics/Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Matriculation Examination (MPCE), conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Examination (JAMB).
For over two decades, JAMB was marred by consistent irregularities, owing to rising cases of cheating and use of mercenaries in the examinations, impersonation and other sharp practices by candidates and some JAMB officials which lowered the credibility of the examination.
This, no doubt resulted to loss of faith and confidence in the examination organ to conduct credible qualifying examination into the institutions.
Confronted with this challenge of distrust and lack of credibility in JAMB, key stakeholders in the education sector, especially the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities sought other credible means of screening the candidates, with a view to rescuing the system from its imminent collapse.
Piqued by the dwindling quality of new entrants into the institutions, the Federal Government’s efforts to reverse the trend were championed by the then Education Minister, Prof. Chinwe Obaji in 2005.
She was said to have drummed the need for respective universities to organise separate screening tests for candidates based on their scores in the UTME. Obaji wondered why some candidates who scored 280 and above in UTME failed in their courses to an extent that many of them were being advised by their universities to withdraw.
And indeed, since the candidates’ UTME scores were not true representation of their ability, the post-UTME served to midwife a way forward for the system and raised the credibility bar of the examination, as well as integrity and quality of candidates admitted into the institutions that had hitherto assumed worrisome situation.
Meanwhile, faced with the credibility crisis and the need to tackle the menace of malpractices, JAMB also rose to the situation by introducing several measures aimed at curbing malpractices and cheating in its examinations.
Among the measures were the use of Type question papers and outlawing of the use of calculators and phones in examination halls.
On assumption of office in 2007, the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, also swung to action by putting in place several policies and measures such as the use of biometric data capturing of candidates, use of metal detectors on candidates, among others, to curb the alarming rate of malpractices.
In fact, JAMB did not renege on its efforts by strengthening its search for a lasting measure to bring sanity to the examination with the use of Bio-metric data capturing machines for candidates.
The major breakthrough by JAMB was achieved in 2013, when for the first time; it introduced the Computer-Based-Test mode for the conduct of its examinations, which replaced the traditional paper pencil format.
Indeed, ahead of the use of the CBT mode in 2013, Ojerinde had cited several reasons why the mode of testing had become imperative to curb the rot in the system, which according to him, include its flexibility, security, efficiency and being time-bound.
Although, the CBT mode which was adopted for the conduct of the examination for the over one million candidates this year might not have been entirely successful due largely to infrastructural challenges, what was certain was that it had curbed the challenge of examination malpractice, cheating and impersonation, among others.
Following its laudable achievement of CBT by JAMB, which to a large extent has restored public confidence in the system, the question over the desirability or otherwise of the post-UTME scheme, seemed to be generating a fresh call to scrap the scheme, which some stakeholders noted had outlived its relevance.
However, many stakeholders, including Obaji have kicked against the cancellation of the initiative, saying its relevance cannot simply be overshadowed by the adoption of CBT mode by JAMB.
They argued that the new development could not be assessed based on a single trial and that only time will tell if it will endure.
According to her, all over the world, candidates are subjected to series of screening processes to take the best out of them and that each university has its core values and goals requiring certain features in its candidates.
Culled from New Telegraph
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