Ibadan — From the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) came yesterday a declaration
that the power to determine admission guidelines for universities is
beyond the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Essentially, ASUU,
while reminding the examination body of university autonomy, maintained
that only the Senate of a tertiary institution has the power to regulate
admission modalities and determine what best suits the vision of the
school.
Chairman of the
University of Ibadan (UI) chapter of ASUU, Dr. Deji Omole, in his
reaction said both the Education Minister, Adamu Adamu and JAMB
Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde erred in their actions. Omole said the
duo appeared confused and inconsistent by first going against collection
of administrative charges under Post- Unified Tertiary Matriculation
Examination (UTME) by
universities and then preaching payment of
screening fees in its guidelines.
The ASUU boss said
both the minister and JAMB registrar seemed unaware of happenings in the
nation's universities as the "so called point-based scoring system" is
not new. Omole, who noted that the scoring system being introduced by
JAMB was innovated and used in UI for five years and abandoned, said the
premier university had moved beyond such model of admitting students.
According to him,
the question of admission is not about the introduction of screening
charges. He said the union would resist any attempt to trample upon
university autonomy and the supremacy of the Senate of universities to
regulate its admission.
If the new
guideline is allowed, Omole said, candidates who combined results from
two sittings at O'levels would be deprived alongside awaiting result
candidates.
"JAMB is acting
beyond its mandate which is to conduct examinations and release results.
Only the Senate of universities have the right to determine the model
or guideline to adopt to admit their students from the pool of
candidates sent to it by JAMB.
"Each university
has standards which are not subjected to the whims and caprices of any
government appointee. JAMB does not have the powers to tell universities
how to conduct their screening. It is a way to cover up their
inadequacies because JAMB's credibility as an examination body is yearly
being queried. JAMB and its handlers are confused.
"Last year they
arbitrarily placed students in private universities to satisfy the needs
of their cronies. These were mainly children of the poor who had not
chosen those institutions. In the just concluded JAMB examinations, they
awarded candidates with extra 40 marks without any justification. Now
those with two sittings results will be shortchanged and those awaiting
results will be disadvantaged. There will be rise in result racketeering
at WAEC again as people will be purchasing grade 'A' since that is what
will guarantee admission.
"More miracle
examination centres will spring up and both JAMB and the minister would
have succeeded in entrenching corruption and further kill university
education in Nigeria," Omole said.
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