Nigerian Education Minister has revealed that the Federal Government JAMB admission policy. He said there was the need to review the admission processes so as to cater for Colleges of Education. This was in reaction to the remark made by the Provost of the Federal College of Education that candidates who sit for UTME annually and fail to gain admission into universities are left for the Colleges.
The Federal Government may consider review of the process of admissions into tertiary institutions conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.
Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, who gave this indication in Katsina State on Tuesday, said there was the need to review the admission processes in order to adequately cater for Colleges of Education and other tertiary institutions.
He said the Federal Government would do all it could to attract more young Nigerians into teaching profession.
The Minister was responding to earlier remark by the Provost of the Federal College of Education, Katsina, Prof. M.A. Wasagu, that there has been decline in population of students at the College owing to the UTME conducted by JAMB.
Wasagu had noted that only the dregs of candidates who sit for UTME annually and fail to gain admission into universities are left for the Colleges.
He said: “A major challenge is the decline in students population. With the unified JAMB examination, Colleges of Education were left with students who could not gain admission into the universities.
“It is hoped that a policy will be developed to guarantee the Colleges enough students to be admitted,”he said.
The Minister, however, said a national Summit on Education would soon be convened to deliberate on all issues affecting the education sector in order to come up with a realistic roadmap to move the sector forward.
Shekarau, who was on impact assessment tour of Federal Tertiary institutions in the State, commissioned some completed Tertiary Education Trust (TETfund) projects in the College, including 150 Capacity Lecture Hall, School of Secondary Education Sciences, and School of Primary Education and Early Childhood Care Education among others.
He said the commissioning of the projects was in line with the determination of the Federal Government to increase access to tertiary while at the same time improve on the quality of education.
He urged teachers in the country to see their assignment as critical to national development, saying education remains the only vehicle through which any nation could developed.