AfriPulse
As admission seekers will today begin registration for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has cancelled special concession and registration hitherto allowed for people with albinism because some were using same to perpetrate malpractice.
Also, the Board has urged faith-based institutions to disclose their status from the onset, saying pretending to be secular to draw applicants and later bring forth religious rules was a sort of deception.
These were parts of the decisions arrived at weekend when management of the Board, led by the Registrar, Prof. Isaq Oloyede, met with the commissioners for education in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, in Ikeja, Lagos.
Oloyede, who said the meeting was to review and assess the previous exercise, said despite the numerous steps taken by the examination body, some unscrupulous persons were bent on circumventing the process.
“We have stopped some concessions we gave albino candidates. This is because some are using Artificial Intelligence, AI, to manipulate the registration process to look like they are albinos because of the consideration we gave them. Last year alone, over 7,000 claimed to be albinos. We have stopped special registration procedures for albinos,’’ he said.
On the complaints from admitted candidates in some private institutions regarding religious instructions and rules, Oloyede urged the schools to declare from the onset their status.
His word: “Faith-based institutions should declare from the onset what they are, so that whoever applies there will know what he is going to meet there, but some don’t do that. They will pretend to be secular in nature but when students are now admitted, trouble will begin regarding religious instructions and injunctions.
‘’If you are a faith-based institution, say so. The law allows you to set up faith-based schools.”
On the revelation last year that the candidate with the highest score was already a 300 level student in a university, the JAMB boss noted that investigation showed that some undergraduates do write the exam to eventually start another course, but noted that some do so to help others secure admission.
“Students who are already in school but want to change courses and are applying again must declare and disclose their status. We have found out that some candidates already in school do write the examination for other candidates.
‘’Last year, the candidate who scored the highest, out of curiosity, we did a background check on him and found out that he was a 300 level student in the university. Henceforth, any candidate who is found engaging in such an act, and who failed to disclose that he is already in school but wants to change course, will be disqualified and also lose his current admission,” he added.
On admission criteria, he explained that for federal government-owned institutions, it was 45 per cent merit; 20 per cent catchment area; 20 per cent educationally disadvantaged states and the rest for others.
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