Following its victory over the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board’s (JAMB’s) eligibility policy last week, the Association of Tutorial School Operators (ATSO) has urged the Board to consult widely before such a policy is rolled out in the future.
The National President of ATSO, Dotun Sodunke, spoke at a briefing in Lagos, to thank parents, government, the media, civil society and over 5,000 students who participated in the protest about a fortnight ago.
ATSO, which described the policy as ‘not totally bad but ill-timed’, said their members and other stakeholders, would have been able to offer the board better advice on how such policy should be implemented without infringing on the candidates’ right.
“The policy of JAMB is not totally bad, but ill-timed. It came as a rude shock. Such policy should have been introduced much earlier so we could work out modalities for its effectiveness or otherwise and thereafter sensitise over 350,000 students that we teach,’ Sodunke said.
He advised JAMB candidates not to cut corners, but prepare hard to pass the post-UTME.
He said the idea of the dropped policy was reportedly hatched at a meeting between JAMB and Committee of Vice-Chancellors, which considered other admission criteria, such as less educated area, and 40 per cent for merit.
“So, what we saw was that some of our students that scored 204, 205 were qualified to write post-UTME while those who scored 280 were not qualified. So, we said, ‘this is unfair, sir.’ Let those with 200 and above write post-UTME. If there are 3000 spaces for over one million candidates, let them fight first. If they don’t get admission, then redistribute them. But, what JAMB did was that you could not sit for post-UTME here; we have posted you to another school,” he said.
He said the group is convinced that the policy is aimed at favouring private universities, adding that most of the institutions where affected candidates were redistributed turned out to be private universities, especially those ones still struggling to get students for enrolment.
He wondered where JAMB expected parents of such indigent candidates to source for the high tuition of such universities for their wards.
Initially, he said, civil society groups and some individuals misconstrued their motive, thinking ATSO was agitating for reduction of candidates’ cut off marks.
“They (civil society groups) thought that we were fighting that our students were disqualified from entering UNILAG. No!
“We were fighting against the eligibility policy, which is like a twin policy called redistribution policy. This policy means JAMB will be the only body that will choose those that will sit for post-UTME in the six schools. Those JAMB did not choose, will have to be posted to other schools. But we are saying this is against their fundamental human right. All we are agitating for is that other candidates that scored 200 and above which is a pass mark, should also be qualified to write the post-UTME.”
ATSO’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Idowu Adewale promised that despite the group’s victory at the court, members would not go to bed yet, but would continue to be a watchdog to see if JAMB or any examination body would also introduce any policy that could affect candidates.
He said: “Also in line with our mandate, we will soon embark on clampdown on illegal tutorial centres, especially those ones that organise ‘miracle centres’ for examination fraud. Those ones are giving us a bad name and eroding public confidence in us. Let us state categorically again that ATSO does not support examination malpractices. We teach, encourage our students to work hard for their exam while warning them on the dangers of cutting corners. Members of the public can notify us on of any illegal tutorial centres in their areas.”