More Nigerians have risen in opposition to the planned scrapping of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and the National Examination Council, SEGUN OLUGBILE and SAM AWOYINFA report
It was the Nigerian Union of Teachers that first spoke against the planned scrapping of National Examination Council and Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination by Federal Government. But a day after the announcement, and without confirmation or denial by the Federal Government on Thursday, parents, prospective candidates, rectors and university administrators have joined the fray, describing the proposed policy as ill-timed, not well thought out and capable of localising the nation's tertiary institutions, particularly the universities.
They also argued that the policy, especially, the scrapping of UTME, would promote corruption as tertiary institutions' managers could capitalise on it to enrich themselves.
Though the National President, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Dr. Nasir Fagge, said the union would study the proposed policy before reacting, members of the Committee of Heads of Polytechnics and Colleges of Education said that there was no justifiable reason for the scrapping of both the UTME and NECO now. Also, some stakeholders said the policy, if implemented, could marginalise poor people in the admission process.
The Federal Government had, in a media reports on Wednesday, declared its intention to implement the recommendations of the Steve Oransaye-led Presidential Committee on the Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies to scrap NECO and UTME.
Under the new policy, members of staff of NECO will be absorbed by the West African Examination Council while each tertiary institution will be allowed to conduct matriculation examination for prospective students.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, currently saddled with the responsibility of conducting matriculation examination for admission seekers, will become a clearing house.
But a member of COHEADS, who is also the Rector, Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, Dr. Abdulazeez Abioye, said that NECO and UTME should not be scrapped as they still play a great role in the standardisation of the nation's educational system.
"We will not subscribe to this position that NECO and UTME should be scrapped. They are still useful and credible. We should not be going backward; at least, the current system and the introduction of the post-UTME have helped in a great way to reduce examination malpractice and with the agency regulating the conduct of the post-UTME, tertiary institutions can no longer short-change the candidates. For instance, before the last post-UTME was conducted, JAMB fixed the cost per candidate to N1,000," he said.
Another teacher at Ikeja Senior Secondary School, who simply wanted to be identified as Mr. Aderibigbe, said the planned policy could endanger the lives of many admission seekers who would be forced to travel from one institution to another to sit for different matriculation examinations.
Though the Vice-Chancellor, Federal University, Ndufu Alike, Ikwo, Ebonyi State, Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe, expressed indifference to the new policy. He also noted that, if implemented, candidates would risk the trauma of travelling to multiple universities for the entrance examination.
"I'm really indifferent to the decision to stop UTME and scrap NECO because I cannot easily verify if, indeed, the UTME programme, or the institution of NECO, has outlived their usefulness.
"Please, recall that one of the primary rationales for the establishment of JAMB was to save candidates from the risks and trauma of travelling to multiple universities for the entrance examinations.
"I do hope that the decision is based on some clear cost benefit analysis. I do not forsee any direct negative effect on the sector at present as there are much bigger challenges of infrastructure and quality assurance but I know that for some of our children, NECO was a welcome relief from the 'dreaded WAEC."
Also, the Overseer, Scholarstic Hall School, Ikeja, Mrs. Pamela Umebuani, said there was no reason why government should scrap NECO and divest JAMB of its powers to conduct entrance examinations into the universities.
She believes in the sanctity of the examination bodies, because, according to her, the chances of parents and pupils influencing the bodies are very slim.
She states, "I believe in those statutory bodies, because the first thing that should be considered is standard. These are regulatory bodies that ensure standard. Like the JAMB, everything is done online, even the exam results are released online, so there is no room for manipulation. I feel sad when I heard the news."
Umebuani added that allowing each university to conduct its own entrance examination might breed corruption, because according to her, it will afford parents opportunity to bribe university officials to make sure that their children get admitted into the institution they want.
She, however, does not rule out the possibility of the policy making some institutions to maintain their academic standard, and not lowering it for any amount in the world.
The Proprietress, Agape Bundles Schools, Omole Estate, Lagos, Mrs. Jennifer Okoli, also welcomes the scrapping of NECO, because, according to her, it is a duplication of duties of some sorts, since there is WAEC.
She said too many examination bodies at the secondary school level makes the pupils lazy, since they always think if they fail one, they will definitely pass the other one.
"There are too many examination bodies in the secondary school level,. We have NECO, May/June WASSCE and November/December WASSCE. To me, it is mere duplication of responsibilities. Now that the pupils will now be left with just WAEC and GCE, they will definitely be serious with their studies."
On the individual universities conducting their own examination, Okoli said it was only in public institutions that corruption might rear its ugly heads, because there is standard among the private universities, in terms of their admission requirements and availability of facilities. Also, a professor at the Lagos State University, Ojo, Ademola Onifade, said the decision was a welcome development.
He said, "I support it. I do not believe in UTME because it is not a true test of candidates' academic ability. Two, there is no reason why we should subject our children to too many examinations as this enables some universities to extort candidates. Let universities conduct matriculation examination by simply interacting with applicants with the required number of credits in WASSCE. Nobody subjects candidates to matriculation examinations abroad. So, WASSCE result alone should be okay. Too many examinations weigh down candidates."
He added that the nation should also concentrate more efforts at ensuring that examination malpractices are eliminated.
"When we reduce examination fraud and ensure the integrity of our public examination at that level, getting the right candidates to universities will become easy," he said.
On the scrapping of NECO, Onifade said though the examination agency was doing well, the integrity of its examination remained questionable.
Other people who spoke with our correspondents argued that the new policy, if implemented, would localise the nation's university system and concentrate more powers in the hands of tertiary institutions' authorities.
"Candidates will pay more as they will now be travelling to various institutions for similar examination and with our bad roads, accidents could claim the lives of our youths," a concerned parent, Mr. Adebola Ogunlana, said.
Also, prospective admission seekers urged the Federal government not to scrap UTME and NECO. According to them, scrapping UTME would be tantamount to sacrificing merit in the admission process as partiality, nepotism and tribalism would determine admission chances of candidates. "At least, if you read very well and score high marks in UTME, and post-UTME, you are assured a place in the university irrespective of its location but if each university is allowed to conduct matriculation examination, a lot of people will be denied admission," one of them, Abiodun Ajala, said.
Most people our correspondents spoke with also faulted the planned scrapping of NECO. They said since the examination body provides alternative to pupils, it should be allowed.
"If government had observed some flaws in NECO, they should help in removing such and strengthen the body. They don't have to throw away the baby with the bath water," a teacher at a private school in Ogun State, Mr. Wole Alani, said. The NUT President had, in an interview on Thursday, urged the Federal Government to exercise restraint in the implementation of the recommendation.
The union described it as a "policy summersault" which "is not the best for now".
Olukoya said, "What we are interested in is that, let the government beam its searchlight on the entire education system. Education should be technologically inclined. By so doing, we shall wipe out unemployment.
"NECO and UTME are just to conduct evaluation assessment to see how the objectives of teaching have been achieved. We shall wait and see. I believe it is not a journey to nowhere. So for me, I think it is high time the entire system should be overhauled to ensure that it meets the yearning of the society."
