SALAH MESSAGE: POST-JAMB SCREENING IS SINE QUA NON

5th November, 2011 ID AL-KABIR MESSAGE:  POST-JAMB SCREENING IS SINE QUA NON   There is no gainsaying the fact that the standard of education has fallen in Nigeria. Worse still, examination malpractice appears to be the norm, not the exception. Yet in view of the fact that education is the indispensable launching-pad for economic growth, sound health and technological breakthrough of any nation, we as a people cannot afford to ignore the need for quality control as an essential roadmap to qualitative education.   Until recently, the Joint Admissions Matriculations Board (JAMB) was solely responsible for the conduct of entrance examinations into Nigerian universities. It played this role creditably well ab initio. But unhealthy developments soon crept in as allegations of massive fraud were made regarding JAMB. Candidates' marks were allegedly swapped. Students who were known to be brilliant got low marks while average and dull students surprisingly received scandalously high marks. Allegations of JAMB officials selling marks were rife. All kinds of thugs and riff-raffs found their ways into the universities so long as they (or their parents) had the money to throw around.   The fallout of this embarrassing situation was the poor performance of students in the university. It led to idleness, absenteeism and cultism among students. Undergraduates could not write simple letters. Their spoken English became the poorest in the West-African sub-region. The standard of education fell to an all time low and stakeholders were quick to finger JAMB as the main culprit. It was discovered that admission was being offered by JAMB to candidates who did not merit it in any way. As a corollary to this, graduates of Nigerian universities could no longer perform the duties expected of them. Our building engineers could not build ordinary nests for birds, our surgeons left scissors and needles inside patients' stomachs while our economists and political scientists could not proffer solutions to Nigeria's hydra-headed socio-economic problems. That is why we are where we are today.   It was against this background that the universities in the country put their heads under the same umbrella and designed what is now called the post-JAMB screening examination. This exercise is intended to separate the wheat from the chaff. It is indubitable that it has succeeded in weeding out undeserving elements since it was introduced about three years ago. It has ensured that only genuinely interested candidates are admitted into universities. Cultism and other anti-social practices have reduced among students.   MURIC appeals to members of the National Assembly to leave the post-JAMB examinations as they are. The universities know the stuff to expect from their candidates. JAMB is already over-pampered and over-bloated. It has outlived both its relevance and usefulness. The staff in JAMB bear no sense of belonging to any university. They have nothing at stake so they can stomach corruption in the system. The universities are keen on getting the best materials into their institutions. We therefore urge the NASS to listen to the universities. Any attempt to scrap the post-JAMB sceening examinations being conducted by the universities will definitely drag the education sector back to the Stone Age.     Dr. Is-haq Akintola, Director, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) 234-818-211-9714 234-803-346-4974 Is-haq Akintola (Ph.D), Director, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), 234-818-211-9714 E-mail: muslimrightsconcern@yahoo.co.uk              muslimrights@gmail.com Website: www.muric.net Yahoo Group: groups.yahoo.com/group/muslimrights Blog:       muslimrightsmuric.blogspot.com Twitter:   twitter.com/muslimconcern           Be just Justice is the soul of peace No one can deny one and have the other Neither can violence or naked force bring lasting peace