Funmi Ogundare

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has defended its admission policies, insisting that the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) is merely a ranking mechanism used to allocate limited admission spaces, while candidates’ O’Level qualifications remain the primary requirement for admission into tertiary institutions.

Speaking virtually at the Education Writers’ Association of Nigeria (EWAN) dialogue on behalf of the outgoing JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, on Thursday, the board’s Head, Media and Publicity, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, explained that many Nigerians had misunderstood the role of the UTME by treating it as a pass-or-fail examination.

According to him, candidates who obtain the required five O’Level credits are academically qualified for admission, while the UTME only serves as a competitive tool where available admission slots are limited.

“There is no pass or fail in JAMB. A candidate who scores 180 may gain admission, while another who scores 300 may not, depending on the institution and course. The examination is simply a vehicle for selecting candidates where spaces are limited,” he said.

Benjamin likened the examination to selecting a few children to ride in a vehicle with limited seats, explaining that while all the children qualify to travel because they belong to the same family, the examination merely determines who occupies the available spaces.

He also justified the Federal Government’s decision to exempt candidates seeking admission into Colleges of Education from writing the UTME, describing it as a temporary measure aimed at reversing the alarming decline in enrolment into teacher education programmes.

According to him, “Many colleges of education now struggle to fill even 10 per cent of their approved admission quotas, forcing some institutions to admit candidates outside the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS).”

He disclosed that some institutions had resorted to admitting students ‘under the table’ without JAMB records simply to remain operational.

“Educational programmes in many colleges of education are almost going extinct. Day after day, they come to JAMB asking for waivers because they cannot fill their quotas. Some even admitted candidates without records with JAMB before the minister approved regularisation,” he said.

Benjamin, however, acknowledged that poor incentives for teachers remained the major reason for the declining interest in education courses.

He noted that while stakeholders had called for scholarships, tuition-free education and better welfare packages for education students, government considered the exemption from UTME a short-term intervention pending broader reforms.

He added that the recently introduced Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE)-to-degree structure, which allows students to complete both qualifications within five years instead of six, was also intended to encourage more candidates into the teaching profession.

On the controversy surrounding the minimum admission age of 16 years, Benjamin maintained that the policy was backed by existing education laws and research on cognitive development.

He dismissed claims that advanced countries admit children into universities at any age, arguing that exceptions were made only for exceptionally gifted students.

“We are not the ones that introduced the age requirement. It is contained in our national education policies. Maturity plays a major role in academic success, and our monitoring over the years has shown that age affects students’ performance,” he stated.

He explained that JAMB nevertheless provides opportunities for exceptionally gifted candidates to seek admission before the age of 16 if they demonstrate outstanding academic ability.

The spokesman also apologised to candidates who experienced challenges while accessing JAMB’s online services this year, attributing the glitches to ongoing upgrades designed to improve the board’s digital platforms.

“We sincerely apologise to the candidates who experienced difficulties. We are upgrading our system to make it more user-friendly and efficient. Sometimes, with technology, you only discover certain issues after deployment, but most of the problems have now been resolved,” he stated.

On correction of candidates’ personal data, he announced that JAMB would soon reopen its correction portal after completing the ongoing upgrades.

He, however, stressed that certain details, including names, age after admission and state of origin where admission benefits had already been derived, would not be altered to prevent identity fraud and abuse of the admission process.

Benjamin further clarified that: “The portal for change of institution remains open throughout the admission season unless individual institutions request its closure after concluding admissions or filling available spaces.”

He also explained that the former dual-mandate system, where colleges of education simultaneously ran separate NCE and affiliated university degree programmes, had been phased out.

Under the new arrangement, he said, colleges of education would run integrated NCE-to-degree programmes, subject to strict accreditation and resource verification by the relevant regulatory agencies, with the National Universities Commission ( NUC) overseeing degree components while the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) regulates the NCE programmes.