By Godfrey AKON
The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has said the board is considering a new policy which will allow candidates participating in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, to use their personal devices to write the examination.
Oloyede, who disclosed this on Saturday, in Abuja at the 2023 Policy Meeting on Admissions into Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria, said the proposed policy is hinged on the rising cost of logistics in taking the UTME nationwide.
The JAMB boss said the board spent over N1.2 billion to equip a Computer Based Test, CBT, centre in Kaduna State, particularly in procuring computers which candidates use to take the examination.
He said the policy will be tagged “Bring Your Own Device,” even as he lamented the crave for university education among candidates at the detriment of polytechnics and colleges of education.
While condemning the wide disparity in admission quotas in the country, he urged aspiring undergraduates to explore other options within the tertiary education sector
Meanwhile, the board has adopted the National Minimum score for admission into universities, polytechnics, colleges of education as 140, 100 and 100 respectively.
While approving the cut-off points after inputs by stakeholders at the 2023 Policy Meeting on Admissions, JAMB Registrar, Oloyede, said all institutions must abide by this rule and must not go below the approved points.
He also said that every tertiary institution must ensure its own minimum standard especially as it related to institutional screening and grading in the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, SSCE, which must not be lower than 50 marks.
“Institution must abide by this minimum point. This means that no institution can go below the standard.
“For the 15 private universities that demanded between 120 and 130 as minimum points, note that the 140 is sacrosanct and must not be violated.
“This is because the system put in place will not recognise 139, so ensure you comply,” he said.
Oloyede also said that institutions must not collect more than N2,000 as screening fees from candidates.
