Students protest JAMB’s cut off marks at UNILAG
(Nigeria) A peaceful protest on Wednesday marred the
commencement of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, registration for the 2015/2016
session screening of candidates for the JAMB’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation
Examination.
However, the Registrar of UNILAG, Dr Taiwo Ipaye, said that
only 9,000 out of the 32,000 candidates that applied for admission into the
university were eligible for screening.
Some of the parents of the candidates, who brought their children
to the campus for the exercise, expressed their disappointments over their
children’s exclusion from the JAMB’s list of shortlisted candidates.
Dr Ben Emone, a medical practitioner and parent, said that
his son made UNILAG his first choice, and scored 260 marks in the UTME.
According to him, it has been the tradition of the
university to peg its cut-off mark, at least, at 200 for the post UTME.
Emone expressed dissatisfaction at whatever reasons both the
university and JAMB were posting for the sudden change in procedure.
``I will not take this whole thing they are trying to
explain because my son passed the UTME convincingly. If there was to be any
change, we should have been sensitised well ahead of time, and not just
waking-up one morning to change the rule of the game.
``All I am saying is that my son must write this Post UTME
or nobody will,’’ he said.
Mr Sodunke Oludotun, the National President, Association of
Tutorial School Operators, blamed the crisis on the Registrar of JAMB, Prof.
Dibu Ojerinde.
He alleged that Ojerinde was insensitive to the plights of
parents.
Oludotun said that the JAMB registrar was wrong to have
introduced such last minute decision after he had announced to the public that
the cut-off mark for admissions into the universities was 180.
He said that the issues would have turned out differently if
the registrar had gone an extra mile, to carry the general public along, in
board’s policy making.
``I think Prof. Ojerinde has some questions to answer on
this whole issue. There must be something he is not telling the public. Ojerinde
must stop running JAMB as if it is his personal business empire.
``How can Ojerinde impose such high and unacceptable cutoff
marks for five notable public universities in Nigeria under the guise of
catchment, to qualify for post UTME, and you expect us not to protest. The
worst case scenario at least ought to have been the normal 200 marks and above,
which universities like UNILAG and others were known for.
``If there must be anything new, it should be introduced
next year after due consultations with all critical stakeholders, and get the
public adequately sensitised. For now, all we want is for all the candidates
the cut-off mark of 200 and above to be allowed to sit for the post UTME or we
go to court,’’ he said.
Mr Joseph Adefolalu, the immediate past Chairman, Senior
Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), UNILAG Chapter, said that
JAMB’s action was meant to destabilise the President Muhammadu Buhari-led
administration.
This should be resisted, Adefolalu said.
However, UNILAG’s Registrar, Dr Taiwo Ipaye, said that only
9,000 out of the 32,000 candidates that applied for admission into the
university were eligible for screening.
Ipaye said that JAMB considered a lot of options at its 2015
Combined Policy Meeting held on July 4, as a way out for the candidates.
``JAMB had during that meeting adopted a policy whereby
candidates of universities with surplus applicants for the UTME are reassigned
to other universities with lower number of candidates, than their capacities.
``This will be beneficial to needy universities; as this
will ensure that they will have more candidates to admit. This policy has been
implemented with immediate effect and consequently, the eligibility for Post-
UTME screening in the University of Lagos like other universities in country,
has been determined by JAMB.
``In effect, only candidates, whose names were forwarded to
the University of Lagos by JAMB, are eligible for the 2015/2016 post-UTME,’’
she said.
Also, JAMB’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Fabian Benjamin,
said that what the parents were agitating for was uncalled for.
According to him, universities are at liberty to go higher
than 180, as cut off marks, based on their peculiarities.
He said, however, that whatever cut-off points they were
adopting must be uniformly applied to all candidates.
``I do not see anything wrong with what UNILAG has done. This
is because a time will come when some universities may have to peg their
cut-off points at 300 marks, based on performance. Before we send candidates to
the universities, we normally ensure that we know their carrying capacities;
because we do not want a situation, whereby, they will present more than they
can admit.
``There are private universities and other tertiary
institutions that also need candidates, so, we try to distribute evenly,’’ he
said.
The spokesman said that JAMB, in its magnanimity, had posted
students that scored above 200 and above to private universities, to forestall
them from staying at home for another year.
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