“When did varsity admission become NYSC, military deployment?” Parent asks JAMB

By Kelechi Amakoh

Reactions have continued to trail the new Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board policy released for the admission exercise for 2015/2016 session.

The new policy which stipulates the eligibility of candidates for the next stage of admission has definitely not be widely accepted by candidates and parents.

The height of rejection for the new JAMB policy was recorded on Wednesday with a protest staged at the main entrance of the University of Lagos.

The protest which disrupted the flow of activities was carried out by the distressed candidates, parents and stakeholders of the education sector. It took the intervention of security operatives of the school and nearby Sabo Police Division to quell the situation.

JAMB said universities were free to raise cut-off marks, but protesters wondered why those who made the cut should not be allowed to sit for post-UTME in a school of their choice.

While speaking with the press, the protesters expressed dissatisfaction about the way and manner JAMB under Professor Dibu Ojerinde led administration has acted. They held up placards with different inscriptions such as : “Why is Dibu Ojerinde posting candidates from five federal universities to private universities of his own choice for Post JAMB?”, “You cannot choose university for us Dibu!!!”, “Wao, with 250, I cant write my post-JAMB, Incredible”, “Pls Dibu, wheredoes our future lie. Is it in your house?”, “Dibu, if you are greater than GEJ (former president Jonathan), you cannot also pocket PMB (Buhari).”

In response to the protest, a statement issued by the Public Relations Officer of the board, Dr Fabian Benjamin as NAN reports “sympathized with their (candidates of University of Lagos) frustration”

The statement read:

“We want to seize this opportunity to state that our attention has been drawn to the agitation by some parents and students who turned out for the registration for the post JAMB screening exercise for the candidates.

“We sympathize with them but wish to state categorically that the national cut off point is just the minimum expectation that each candidate desirous of university admission should have.

“However, universities are at liberty to go higher than 180, depending on their peculiarities and the performance of candidates who chose them.

“For instance, if over 10,000 candidates who made Unilag their first choice scored 250 and above, it will be difficult for them to go lower than 250 when they are to admit only about 7000.

“I wish to state that a time will come when some universities will go up to 300 as their cut off mark, depending on the performance,” he noted.

Parents say JAMB has no right to deploy there children like soldiers.

The policy according to the Registrar/CEO of JAMB, Professor Dibu Ojerinde, has the following benefits:

It will be beneficial to “needy Universities,” that is, universities with lower number of candidates than their capacities, as this will ensure that these universities will have more candidates to admit.
Candidates will have better chances for admission in the universities they are re-assigned to, contrary to situations where they would await admission in the universities of their first choices until the admission exercise closes and they forfeit admission in that session, JAMB is saying.

Candidates who spoke with Newsroom before making payments at Eco Bank within campus on Thursday afternoon expressed joy for scaling this “sudden” hurdle placed by JAMB. They were also quick to express their dissatisfaction on the new policy.

“I am happy I got to print my payment advice. Maybe it is because my course is not competitive. My friend who had 250 in JAMB for law did not see her name on the list. I want to believe they will reverse this decision sincerely,” an elated Solomon who applied for Cell Biology and Genetics.

For Sandra Nwajei, the recent policy “is not fair on candidates, I sincerely desire they look into this situation unless the streets will be filled with potentials underutilized.”

Also observed in groups discussing this issue were students of the university who expressed sincere shock on the current situation. In one of the group discussions, the students noted that the policy is a rude shock which should never have happened.

In a swift reaction, the university’s management released an announcement stating the recognition of only candidates cleared by JAMB.

JAMB said the policy will drive students to schools they usually don't wan to go — JAMB said the policy will drive students to schools they usually don’t wan to go

“Only candidates whose names were forwarded to the University of Lagos by JAMB are eligible for the 2015/2016 post-UTME screening.

“This means that only candidates whose details have been forwarded to the University of Lagos by JAMBare eligible for the 2015/2016 Post-UTME screening exercise.

“Ineligible candidates would have been re-assigned by JAMB to other universities. Such candidates should contact JAMB for assistance.”

The Post UTME screening exercise for UNILAG holds on Wednesday, 12th August and Thursday 13th August, 2015.

Many people are still wondering when university admission became youth-corps-service-like deployment.

“Why did they tell our kids to make choices about schools when they were filling the JAMB forms?” an aggrieved mother whose son was turned back by UNILAG told Newsroom.

“This is not NYSC or the military, you can’t just wake up and decide to deploy people anyhow,” she said.

Some parents have threatened to sue JAMB over the new policy.