Answered by curious cook
Not anytime soon. You may be interested in the following comment: In a way, this growing public indignation cannot be isolated from official abdication of responsibilities as evidenced by the imposition of the post-JAMB tests. To be sure, this writer hardly wishes to be counted among those who still vouch for the integrity of the so-called exams conducted by JAMB. The phenomenon of “mercenary” is now synonymous with JAMB exams. To be fair, this is not peculiar to JAMB alone. It also applies to WAEC exams. Only last May, for instance, SSCE papers like English, Biology and Geography reportedly leaked in some cities like Lagos even days before students officially sat for them. Naturally, a national outrage trailed the news. WAEC itself came out to admit the leakage. But the question now is: what has become of the case today? Were the culprits identified? If yes, has anyone been punished to serve as deterrence? Of course, those who cannot procure the “advance copies” of such exam questions from the “black market” today always have a fall back position: they can hire somebody to go to the exam hall to write the papers for them, with the connivance of the invigilators. Or, in some cases, the invigilators themselves become the peddlers of ready answers. For a fee, the “pin numbers” are sneaked to desperate students who can pay cash on the spot! Doubtless, JAMB, like every other exam body, will continue to defend the integrity of their exams even in the face of glaring fraud. It is perhaps only in this part of the world that a national institution saddled with a responsibility as critical as conducting qualifying exams to higher institutions of learning is accused of being incapable of delivering on its mandate and yet its leaders continue to walk the streets without feeling shame. Ever obsessed with profit motives, the universities themselves have since cashed in like sharks. Without prior agreement with parents, varsities unilaterally imposed additional N2,000 charges on helpless admission seekers for post-JAMB tests. At the last count, no fewer than five universities have conducted the test. They include University of Lagos (UNILAG), University of Jos (UNIJOS), Delta State University (DELSU), University of Benin (UNIBEN) and Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA). At UNILAG, for instance, it is estimated that the authorities succeeded in smiling to the bank to the tune of a whopping N92 million! Indeed, by the time all the universities finished with this latest money-spinning venture, parents should be poorer by billions of naira for what, actually, is a systemic failure. Now, rather than cover their faces in shame, the National University Commission (NUC) and the universities were lately heard haggling over the “appropriate pricing” for the post-JAMB test. And by what must rank as the cruelest assault on Nigeria’s youth population, education minister, Mrs. Chinwe Obaji, had gone ahead to issue the vice chancellors a directive to go ahead with this buccaneer venture. On a jovial note, what remains unclear is what percent of that booty from the post-JAMB test would accrue to the education ministry. But all said and done, making students sit for another exam after JAMB is, I think, only a fire-brigade approach to solving what now qualifies to be described as a national emergency. The reason I could not help laughing Thursday when the education minister, while defending the senseless policy, said post-JAMB test “would remove the crowding of the admission process by those who are not qualified for university admission in the first place. Also, this would remove the pressure to cheat by those who come from higher institution to sit for the Ordinary Level examination.” Nothing could be more simplistic or illiterate. The challenge really is how to ensure the sanctity of public examination and not devising a formula to prune the number of applicants. It is the right of every Nigerian child to aspire to higher education. What the authorities owe them is avail everyone the opportunity irrespective of class or ethnicity. It is a mark of philistinism for any minister to be unhappy that there is a growing number of people yearning for university or polytechnic education. So, by that statement, Mrs. Obaji has only betrayed a poor understanding of the issue at stake. It is for this reason that the intervention last week of the House of Representatives must be saluted as patriotic indeed. Through a resolution Wednesday, our federal lawmakers described the post-JAMB test as “illegal” and ordered a refund to students. I share the House’s sentiments. The idea of post-JAMB test, let it be noted, is nothing but a vote of no confidence on JAMB. What is left in the circumstance, therefore, is a total overhaul of JAMB as an institution. If that is impossible, then the government should muster the political will to scrap it and cede the power of matriculation exams to the governing boards of the universities. To do otherwise is to surrender to the forces of retrogression. Be that as it may, the argument is incomplete if one fails to acknowledge that certain considerations had informed the formation of JAMB in the first place. One of which is the need to equalize, as much as possible, educational opportunities for all Nigerians, conscious of the special needs of some sections of the country termed “educationally disadvantaged”. It will be hypocritical to pretend that such dichotomy still doesn’t exist today. To address such peculiar situations, what NUC should do is to ensure that the universities take cognizance of that fact when drawing the admission list finally. But truth be said, the ensuing fiasco over JAMB is only a corollary to the seeming loss of direction of Nigeria’s education system. No matter the grandeur of the education policy of a nation, there is always a defining feature. It is called character. In fact, there are a number of social sins Mahatma Gandhi, India’s sage, forever warns a society against. Chief among these is “education without character”. As part of his own attempt to envision a greater tomorrow for Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo had in 1999 inaugurated Universal Basic Education. Of course, part of the long-term objective of the blueprint is to lay emphasis on the technical aspect of education. Which brings us to the present furore over the place of the polytechnic in the nation’s education enterprise. At the last conduct of poly entrance exams, JAMB authorities themselves confirmed that many candidates failed to show up. The reason is not far-fetched