A bill seeking to make the results of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) valid for two years has passed second reading in the House of Representatives.
Sponsored by Tolulope Akande-Sadipe (APC, Oyo), the Bill which seeks to amend the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Act scaled through second reading during plenary on Thursday.
Leading the debate, Sadipe argued that students seat for JAMB exams, come up with good grades but for one reason or the other, do not get admission for no fault of theirs. She further lamented the hardship parents of the students are made to shoulder in getting their wards/children to seat for UTME yearly.
“When you look at the number of students that apply for university every year and the number that gets in, it is definitely not their fault so why should they be penalised.
“Everywhere in the world, there are no such exams that are valid for one year; Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is valid forever. Most universities across the world, they value such exams for at least five years aiming at others but here in Nigeria; JAMB is valid for one entry and if you do not get it, you repeat it.
“I think this is totally unfair, there are a lot of children in this country whose parents are struggling to put them through school. These children go through education, pass these exams and then the following year, for no reason, they are made to repeat the exams.
“If we continue this way, it likens us to a society where human beings are sacrificed for money; why should our children be sacrificed on the altar of revenue generation,” she queried.
Contributing to the debate, Nkem Abonta (PDP, Abia) stated that extending the validity of UTME results will defeat the aim of the entry exams.
He noted that the JAMB Act seeks to regulate the mode of entry into Nigerian universities; stressing that making the results valid for two to three years will cause more problems.
Abonta added that the relevant committee looks at the proposed amendment critically so as not to compound the problem, in an attempt to solve it.
Chinyere Igwe (PDP, Rivers) on his part, argued that there is a difference between an entrance examination and a terminal examination, warning that making the result valid for two years will reduce the country’s standard of education.
He said, “JAMB is an entry examination with the purpose of securing admission into a university, polytechnic or college of education with a view to earning a terminal qualification.
“The foreign exams mentioned by the sponsor of the bill are terminal examinations and not entry examinations like JAMB. When one sits for an entrance examination and does not make the cut-off score, the exam is resitted.”
Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu) urged the house not to throw away the baby and bath water, noting that “students, as well as their parents and sponsors, have not only been suffering double jeopardy but several jeopardies.
“Some students have continued to pass JAMB exams and have not been able to go to school for over five years which sometimes results to dropping out of school.
“Mind you, there are about 80 million people in Britain and they have over 100 universities whereas there are over 200 million Nigerians without enough universities.
“Should they be victims of the fact that enough universities have not been provided; they say of exams and they have passed? It is not a failure on their part that they were not taken. It is the responsibility of the state that they are taking and you can not be asking them to be paying.
“They are young people, their parents and guardians are suffering. Sometimes, we are compelled as parliamentarian to pay for them,” he said.
The bill was passed and the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase referred it to the relevant committees of the house for further legislative action.