The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has clarified that JAMB only admits students for ND programmes, noting that once the candidates graduate and seek HND admission, JAMB has no further role as HND admissions are conducted by individual institutions.
In its weekly bulletin, obtained by Blueprint in Abuja, Monday, Prof. Oloyede wondered why JAMB was being criminalised and targeted by the association for an action that is outside its purview, stating that protests by the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) was borne out of sheer ignorance of the mandate of the Board.
“You are wasting your time talking to someone who has no involvement in the matter. If something affects you, the first step is to identify the root cause so that you don’t apply the wrong solution to a problem that does not exist.
“Our role stops at admissions for National Diploma (ND); we have no record of HND students,” he said.
He advised the delegation to study the admissions guidelines with a view to holding talks with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) for a solution.
Prof Oloyede also addressed concerns over part-time polytechnic programmes, stating that his criticism was only directed at “Daily Part-Time” schemes designed to exploit students.
He blamed some of the challenges facing the affected students on institutions, which bypass the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) to facilitate their admission of more than the number of candidates specified by the NBTE.
He said, “NBTE would ask them to admit 100 students for instance, they would take that 100 and register them for full-time ND. They would admit another 1,000 and they would be teaching them in the same class and would say those ones are part- time.”
He disclosed that the consequence of such an action is that there is no correlation between the ND products and their HND counterparts, which in most cases are acquired in different institutions.
While proffering some practical solutions to the impasse, Prof Oloyede urged NAPS to thoroughly investigate the problem to uncover the root causes and solutions.
Meanwhile, convinced that their approach adopted in tackling the seemingly challenges was inappropriate the NAPS President, Comrade Ridwan Opeyemi, absolved the JAMB Registrar of any wrong-doing and appealed to JAMB to help put a stop to this ugly practice that is robbing polytechnic students of the opportunity of participating in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
He expressed satisfaction with the Registrar’s explanations and pledged to engage the appropriate authorities towards resolving the impasse.
Earlier, Opeyemi had explained that many students who graduated with HND certificates from various polytechnics and had regularised with JAMB were yet to be mobilised for the scheme on account of their improper admission status.