– Education minister says the announcement was important to re-echo it in the minds of stakeholders
– Argues that only JAMB scores and certificates should be requirements for admission
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The federal government has reiterated its desire to place a permanent ban on the Post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (Post-UTME).
This much was disclosed by Malam Adamu Adamu, Nigeria’s minister of education, who confirmed that the initial ban on the exercise, stated categorically that it (the ban) takes immediate effect.
According to a press statement obtained by Leadership, Adamu said he had to emphasise the ban so as to ensure that no stakeholder is left in doubt on government’s position.
Ben Ben Goong, the deputy director, press and public relations in the ministry of Education, issued the released which read:
“For the avoidance of doubt, any educational institution after secondary education is regarded as a tertiary institution. Therefore all tertiary institutions, polytechnics, Colleges of Education, universities or by whatever name it is called after secondary education must be subjected to admission through the JAMB.
“Clearing in this case (screening) entails only the verification of certificates of the candidates, JAMB scores, and any other physical examination to ensure that such candidates are not cultists. After this, the candidates are qualified for matriculation.
“Such screening should be at no cost to the parents or students and should be done upon resumption in order to avoid unnecessary travels in search of admission.”
The minister added that a situation where final year students in the nation’s secondary schools are subjected to too many examinations in one year could be best described as traumatic, exploitative and absolutely unnecessary.
Recently, a report by Daily Sun detailed how some universities have tactfully ignored the directive of the federal government as regards the recent cancellation of post-UTME fees.
According to the report, the universities have devised other means to test applicants and charge administrative fees in the process.
The universities were said to have invited applicants for admission for the 2016/2017 academic session, ask them to pay certain amount and also sit for a screening test before being considered for admission.
