Reactions and counter-reactions have been trailing
the release of the new JAMB admission screening
model, which is supposed to be a guideline for
admitting students into tertiary institutions in the
country.
What many do not know is that the admission
process into Nigerian tertiary institutions has never
been and will never be transparent or predictable as
long as the current factors surrounding it remain.
What I mean is that even with the current JAMB
admission model, you still cannot confidently tell if
you are qualified or not qualified for admission this
year.
Until the admission model becomes such that a
candidate can confidently predict his or her
admission before the admission list is released and
it turns out so, then we still do not have a credible
admission model.
What makes you even think that institutions will
religiously follow this model without undue
compromise? By the way, don’t mind my tone. I’m
only trying to bare the situation in black and white.
JAMB has disclosed that institutions will only screen
candidates sent to them by JAMB. The question is on
what basis will JAMB determine the candidates to be
sent to a particular institution? Don’t try to guess.
The simple truth is that you don’t really know.
As long as factors like catchment area, educationally
less developed States (ELDS), admission quota, and
other subtle ones remain determinants of admission
into Nigerian tertiary institutions, I don’t think the
new JAMB admission model makes any substantive
difference because at the end of the day you still
won’t be able to determine or tell what factors
qualified or disqualified you for admission as the
case may be.
This has always been the situation in previous years,
where by a candidate that scored above the required
cut-off mark for a particular course is denied
admission and another candidate that scored less is
given admission into the same course. Do you think
the new JAMB admission model will change any of
that? No way! As long as the factors I mentioned
earlier remain, nothing will change in that regard.
In most countries, tertiary institutions have their
requirements, once you meet the requirements, your
admission is as sure as death. It’s that simple. But
you cannot say that about Nigeria. May be we will
develop to that level with time when our institutions
have developed the capacity to accommodate the
teeming population of admission seekers yearly. But
for now, the present reality remains.
If you are still wondering what I am driving at, let me
spell it out; admission into Nigerian tertiary
institutions as it stands is more like 50% effort and
50% game of luck.
So instead of breaking your head over what the new
JAMB admission model means and does not mean,
you should rather make sure you put in your own
part of the 50% and then count on luck, influence or
what my church folks will call divine favour to
produce the other 50% for you.
