Admission into a place, organization or
institution can be defined as the act of allowing someone to enter it or join
it as the case may be. Similarly, admission into an institution of learning is
the situation whereby one is being allowed to study in the institution or to
become a bona-fide student or trainee of the school.
Considering the above definition, it is apparent that it is only through
admission exercise that one could gain access to study in any citadel of
learning of his or her choice. Thus, admission could be referred to as a
pathway towards acquiring any academic qualification.
It is no longer news that in recent times
seeking of admission into various Nigeria’s tertiary citadels of learning,
which is considered as a prerequisite towards any educational pursuit, has been
a thing of worry to the concerned citizenry. Indeed, currently it has become a
mirage for one to secure an admission space in most of the country’s
institutions of higher learning ranging from schools of Nursing, to Colleges of
Education, Polytechnics and Universities. Most of the model modern secondary
schools owned and managed by the government are not left out in this anomaly.
The said educational morass is attributed to many factors to include
examination malpractice or impersonation, bribery, admission racketeering,
nepotism, finance, as well as insufficient facilities. These among other
factors too numerous to mention are the reasons so many Nigerians have remained
on queue for several years in the name of ‘seeking for an admission space’.
Examination malpractice, which has
eaten deep in the nation’s educational sector, is one of the major factors that
have made many of our brilliant young ones to continue roaming on the street
while those who cannot even spell their names are found in the classrooms.
Examination malpractice or impersonation as the case may be, has succeeded in
making the dummies to come out with flying colours or greater performances at
the end of the day thereby placing their chances of securing admission higher
than those who truly deserve the access.
Bribery also, is a factor that has created
room for what is notoriously known as ‘Sorting’. Sorting – a socio economic
virus on our campuses, can be described as an avenue through which the tertiary
schools’ students or candidates give what they have, either financially or
otherwise, in exchange for what they want or desire. This method enables any
admission seeker to gain access to any institution of his or her choice since
the Aptitude Test grade/score of the candidate in question can be influenced by
the authorities involved.
In the same vein, admission racketeering is not left out. Admission
racketeering is the sale of admission spaces to interested candidates or
members of the public thereby endangering admission by merit. In some quarters,
the institutions involved would prefer to involve intermediaries during the
racketeering procedure in order to ease congestion. The truth of the matter is
that admission racketeering has succeeded in depriving admission access from
millions of candidates who actually merit it but are financially handicapped.
More
so, the issue of finances is another factor that cannot be taken for granted.
In most cases the charges attached to the Aptitude Test forms/cards are
unbearable, which often make many admission seekers to lose their chances of
sitting for the Aptitude Test thereby making them forfeit their respective
admission opportunities. It is appalling that, having paid for the Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination, the candidates would be subsequently
subjected to high payment in order to sit for the Aptitude test of the
institutions of their choices.
Apart from the aptitude test
charges, the ongoing high payment or arbitrary increment of tuition fees is
another financial issue that has discouraged many less-privileged ones who
intend to secure admission in the universities or polytechnics, or as the case
might be.
Another critical and sensitive factor which has been one of the major
challenges faced by prospective students of most citadels of higher learning in
the country is nepotism. Nepotism is the situation in which one uses his/her
power or authority to secure opportunities or other benefits for members of
their family, friends or associates. Due to nepotism, even an imbecile has the
ability to secure an admission space provided he is a relative to a member of
the management of the institution in question.
Above all, the plight of insufficient
facilities in our schools cannot be overemphasized. Lack of adequate facilities
such as lecture rooms/halls, laboratories, libraries, workshops and what have
you, has hampered the admission quotas of most institutions as approved by the
appropriate authorities like the National Universities Commission (NUC), National
Polytechnics Commission (NPC), et cetera thereby making the affected schools to
admit fewer number of candidates per academic session.
The government should do something drastic to ensure that this
aberration that has endangered the growth of our educational sector is duly
restored. In this regard, the law makers ought to enact a law that would assign
capital punishment to anyone found guilty of exam malpractice, bribery,
admission racketeering, to mention but a few.
The concerned authorities such as NUC, NPC, among others, as the case
might be, should endeavour to assist the government in checkmating the proposed
law by setting up a monitoring team that would from time to time oversee the
activities of the institutions. In this regard, the proposed team is expected
to ensure that arbitrary increment of exam charges, or tuition fees are put to
stop.
Most importantly, the schools ought to be mandated to introduce as well
as make use of the Computer Based Test (CBT) mode during their aptitude test
exercise, which would help to eradicate all forms of malpractice or sitting for
exams by proxy. In line with this measure, sufficient computer equipment must
be made available by the schools through the intervention of the government.
Inter alia, the members of the civil society should ensure that the problem
faced by admission seekers owing to nepotism is completely eradicated. On this
note, they are expected to diligently, relentlessly and selflessly carry out
crusade as regards the ordeal, with the aim of restoring equity and fairness
among the affected individuals.
However, the government must do everything humanly possible to ensure
that the required facilities in any citadel of higher learning in the country
are duly and thoroughly provided which would go a long way in influencing the
admission quotas of the institution. The private owned ones should also be
mandated to follow suit. On the other hand, the government in its capacity
ought to not hesitate to sanction or closedown any school found guilty of any
questionable character by any court of competent jurisdiction.
On their part, the parents or guardians should
be very mindful of how they train or handle their children/wards; thus, should
on no account nurture the interest of patronizing any fraudulent academic act
to include examination malpractice, sorting, admission racketeering, or what have
you, on their behalf. Needless to state that, they ought to endeavour at all
times to report any individual, group or purported authority that is suspected
to be party to any of the above mentioned unacceptable acts.
In view of the aforementioned
anomalies, there is no gain saying that all hands are expected to be on deck
towards the restoration of normalcy in our demeaning educational sector. Think
about it!
COMR FDN
NWAOZOR
(The Media Ambassador)_____________________________________
frednwaozor@gmail.com
+2348028608056
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