Public university lecturers have been on strike for
five months with no sign of a resolution to the
crisis.
But the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board
has added a new twist to the case, with its
commencement of sale of forms to candidates
seeking admission into tertiary institutions next
year.
This is happening when most universities are yet
to conclude their admission process for the
2013/2014 academic year, while others are still in
the process of registration.
Therefore, some Nigerians have questioned
JAMB’s decision when a set of fresh students are
still awaiting their first lectures at the affected
universities.
Ms. Taiwo Ogunyale and her fellow freshers are
one week into their registration at the University
of Lagos, Akoka. Ogunyale, who was admitted to
study Microbiology, criticised JAMB’s sale of new
forms, saying it could lead to a backlog of
candidates awaiting admission into universities.
“Selling forms at this time when universities are
still on strike is not that good. So I don’t think it
will help matters because most universities are
not ready to admit new students. It will only lead
to a backlog,” she said.
In 2013, a total of 1,503,931 candidates sat for
JAMB’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation
Examinations. In the previous year, 1,493,604
candidates sat for the examination.
Meanwhile, it is expected that at least, 1,500,000
candidates would sit for the examination slated
for April 2014.
Considering the sheer size of candidates sitting for
the examination annually, many identified the
expected financial gains as a major factor
responsible for JAMB’s decision.
For instance, Mr. Oluwatobi Tijani, another
fresher, recalled buying form for the 2013
examination for N5,000. With that in mind, Tijani
concluded that JAMB must be after the proceeds
from the sale of the forms.
He said, “JAMB is just using it (sale of forms) to
make money from candidates. I heard some
candidates even paid up to N20,000 for late
collection of forms last year, so they are just
exploiting us.
“I expected JAMB to liaise with the schools and the
lecturers and this might require holding on for a
while to see how things would turn out before
selling fresh forms.”
At N5,000 on each candidate that sat for
examination early this year, JAMB raked in about
N7.5bn revenue from form sales alone.
A parent, Mr. Akin Ogunduyile, also described the
sale of forms as capable of compounding the
ongoing crisis in the education sector.
According to Ogunduyile, there is currently an
overwhelming pressure on facilities in the
universities, even without new admissions.
He said, “There is a problem already. The
universities are not through with one set and they
are trying to take another, while they are crying
that there are no facilities. The strike has already
affected the system, so I don’t know how they
want to accommodate them.
“I look at it as if they are only interested in the
money they want to make from the forms. I
don’t think they are interested in giving our
children qualitative education as long as the cash
flows in.”
He, however, appealed to the Federal
Government to expand and improve on the
facilities of public universities across the country.
Another parent, Mr. Mike Ananigie, who
described the situation as “embarrassing”,
blamed it on the lack of organisation in the
country.
Ananigie said, “JAMB should have liaised with the
appropriate authorities. They can afford to hold
on for a while to restructure the education
system and the school calendar. But I think the
disconnect was because of lack of organisation.”
Earlier this year, the former Minister of Education,
Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, explained the shortage of
infrastructure in the universities.
For instance, Rufai said UNILAG had the facilities
to admit only 6,000 out of the 99,165 applications
it received for the 2011/2012 admission year.
A PhD student of Guidance and Counselling for
Educational Foundations, UNILAG, Mr. Ayodeji
Olawole, who agreed that JAMB’s decision might
have financial inclination, however, added that the
situation would have little effect on the country’s
university education system.
Olawole said the processing and registration of
UTME forms usually take candidates some time to
conclude, adding that students would only be
required to wait at home for some time should
the situation lead to a backlog.
He said, “It does not disturb anything since the
final year students would sit for their final
examinations the moment the strike is called off.
“And also, the candidates buying the new forms
will have to do registration, sit for the examination
and wait for their results before they start
processing their admissions; so all of these take
time.
“Although, JAMB might be thinking of the money
they will make from the sale of forms since they
already have a budget for the year, I think the
worst that can happen is for students to sit at
home for a while if there is a backlog.”
Also, Prof. ‘Supo Jegede of the Department of
Adult Education, UNILAG, said it would not have
much effect on the education system except to
add to lecturers’ workload.
Jegede said, “I don’t see anything wrong with it
(sale of forms). Lecturers might probably do
extension work. That will mean that we can’t go
for holidays and that is not a problem, after all,
we’ve been at home resting for some time now
due to the strike.
“In addition, university work is a different type of
work; lecturers can schedule their work in a way
that it will suit them. We should also consider that
some candidates will not buy forms early and
then the private universities and other institutions
that are not on strike are also there to use the
forms.”
According to a statement issued in Abuja by
JAMB’s spokesman, Fabian Benjamin, earlier in
November, the early sale of the application forms
is to enable candidates desirous of tertiary
education to have access to the forms so that
they could prepare ahead for the examination.
The forms officially sell for N4,000 each, lower
than its price the previous year.
In a phone interview with Saturday PUNCH,
Benjamin defended JAMB’s decision to sell forms
in spite of the ongoing strike action in public
universities, saying the examination was not
meant for the affected universities alone.
He said, “We conduct examination for the entire
tertiary institutions in Nigeria including private
universities, polytechnics and colleges of
education, so it’s not just for public universities.
Other tertiary institutions constitute almost 70 per
cent of the people that the examinations serve.
Also, some of the schools have almost finished
their sessions, but we can’t wait till all the schools
are ready before we commence with the selling
of forms. If we have to wait for the schools to call
off their strike, we may not be able to meet up
with our timeline.”
Benjamin also denied that JAMB was interested in
making money from the sale of forms at the risk
of creating a backlog of students awaiting
admission into public universities.
He said, “I don’t think they will have a backlog
and if there is, if a university writes to us that they
can’t admit, we will just suspend the university
for that period. But no university has complained
that with what is going on, they will not be able
to admit. We are not a profit-making
organisation, so we are not after profit; we are
after service. We are not selling forms to make
money; we brought down the price of forms to
N4,000 this year so that people can afford it.”
In the examination, JAMB said it would also be
testing candidates on two general books- The
Successor by Jerry Agada and Potter’s Wheel by
Chukwuemeka Ike- to enhance their reading
culture, irrespective of their courses.