Inalegwu Shaibu
24 November 2008
Registrar and Chief Executive of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Professor Dibu Ojerinde have blamed the falling standard of education in country on examination malpractices which he said is being orchestrated by organizations responsible for conduct of public examinations.
Professor Ojerinde who spoke weekend at the 30th anniversary of JAMB also faulted the Nigerian university system for lacking in capacities to admit many duly qualified Nigerians seeking admissions into universities.
He said, "Over one million Nigerians sit for JAMB every year, with less than 50 percent getting admission into the universities. The problem is with the universities. They are not willing to move with the realities and needs of the people by increasing their carrying capacities.
There should be coordinated programme of development, so that as the population grows, universities should also be expanding to cater for the educational needs of the people."
Professor Ojerinde who also blamed the problem on the desire of every admission seeker wanting to go the university only said there should be a shift emphasis from universities to polytechnics and colleges of education as they are also tertiary institutions with credible benefits to the society.
"Polytechnics and colleges of education are not popular among our people. The people have failed to realize their importance. A graduate of polytechnics easily becomes employers of labour, and yet people are running away from them. Nobody wants to study agriculture, yet we want to eat.
Everybody wants to be a doctor, lawyer, where are we going?" he asked.
Speaking on examination malpractice, which he said is the greatest challenge facing JAMB, the Registrar said it is on the rise because invigilators and supervisors of public examinations are directly involved in it.
"Public examiners are a disappointment. We have seen a situation where supervisors collude with students to cheat in the exams, principals of schools collude with candidates to commit exam malpractices. So tell, how can we deal with this monster?
How can educational standard improve in the country, when those who are suppose to protect the standards are the ones bent on destroying what is left of education," he lamented.
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