Abuja – The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said on
Monday in Abuja that the cancellation of Post-UTME would pose a serious
danger to the quality of education in the country.
ASUU President,
Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, said this at a news briefing convened by the
union on issues affecting Nigerian universities and the nation in
general.
Ogunyemi said that scrapping the Post-UTME by the Federal
Government was a mistake and should, therefore, be revisited with
utmost urgency.
He recalled that vice-chancellors and other
stakeholders had hitherto complained about the inability to reconcile
the high performance of students in UTME in relation to their low
performance in Post-UTME.
“Post-UTME is an inclusive process which
seeks to involve tertiary institutions in the admission procedures of
their would-be students.
“By this new policy of cancelling Post -UTME, this inclusiveness has been removed.
“Hence,
all tertiary institutions are stripped of their right of admitting only
candidates who meet up to their individual admission requirements and
academic standards.”
He also said that scrapping the Post-UTME also portends grave danger for the future of tertiary education in the country.
Ogunyemi
said that considering the poor performance of some graduates of
tertiary institutions and their inability to satisfy the need of their
employers, this was not the best time to lower the bar of education.
“On
the contrary, this is the best time to raise the bar for the graduates
of our tertiary institutions to be capable of competing both locally and
globally.
“Scrapping the Post-UTME will not help us as a nation, considering the lack of confidence in UTME by the universities.”
Ogunyemi
said that there were accusations that some universities had turned
Post-UMTE to an exploitative machine by charging prospective students
exorbitant fees in order drive Internally Generated Revenue.
He said that if this was true, government should introduce a template
for a unified fee or in the alternative, government should liaise with
the body of tertiary institutions to peg an amount.
He also said
the payment for the exam should be made applicable to three sittings in
order for a candidate who passed but could not secure admission to be
able to sit twice on the same receipt.
The
ASUU president said it was imperative for the policy of the Post-UTME
proscription to be re-examined objectively and critically.
“This
argument of the Federal Government on the policy is unacceptable and
potentially harmful to the future of Nigeria’s education system.
“We
call on government to rescind its decision and convene a genuine
stakeholders’ meeting on the issue before making any policy statement.
“The
process of taking decisions that could adversely affect the people and
basic institutions vital for national development ought to be
democratically and scientifically taken”, the president said.
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