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The 2005 Post UME Screening Test- Matters Arising

THE ALPHA EDUCATION FOUNDATION

(Dedicated to Excellence in Education)

Author

Tosanwumi Otokunefor Department of Microbiology, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt Nigeria

E-mail: tvotokunefor@yahoo.com

WHY THE POST UME SCREENING TEST? On Saturday, May 8, 2004, the NTA network

news at 9 00 pm transmitted to millions of

viewing Nigerians, footages of gross

malpractices in the then just concluded JAMB

examination for selection of candidates into the

Nigerian Universities. That was the year 2004

edition of the JAMB exercise. The malpractices

included

extortion of

money ranging

from N300.00

to N2,000.00

from candidates

in exchange for

permission to

write the

examinations

outside the hall

with the help of mercenaries who had been

hired in advance. Students who fail to pay are

punished with harassment and collection of

their answer sheets before the expiration of the

time allowed. In many centres, examinations

did not start until 5 pm. The latest trick these

days is to communicate the correct answers to

the candidates in the halls through the GSM,

usually with the connivance of the invigilators

and supervisors who had collected gratifications

from the erring candidates. A colleague of

mine walked into one of these malpractice

situations in the same year 2004 JAMB edition

when she went to church at 6 00 pm on that

fateful day for a regular weekend church

activity somewhere in Port Harcourt totally

oblivious of the fact that it was JAMB

examination day. What she saw was beyond

comprehension. Within the church premises,

under every

shade, beside

parked cars and

within the

children’s hall

were candidates

writing the

JAMB

examination

illegally. This

scenario is typical of JAMB examination as it is

conducted today, but it was not so at the

beginning. What went wrong may be debatable

but the repercussions are obvious.

Candidates who are morally and academically

bankrupt score extremely high marks while

academically sound candidates only manage

very low scores, thanks to corrupt JAMB

officials who turn blind eyes to high level

malpractice but deliberately harass the innocent

Candidates who are morally and academically

bankrupt score extremely high marks in the JAMB

examination while academically sound candidates

only manage very low scores, thanks to corrupt

JAMB officials who turn blind eyes to high level

malpractice but deliberately harass the innocent in

their efforts to extort some money from them.

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in their efforts to extort some money from them.

It is obvious that, the unqualified candidate not

only gets into the Universities first, but prevents

the truly qualified ones from getting in because

of the resulting high cut-off-marks. This

situation places excruciating burden on the

Universities who expend scarce resources on

candidates who in all probability are unlikely to

graduate on the long run. This is the Crux of

the Matter.

THE POST UME SCREENING TEST The Post UME screening test attempts to

reverse this situation. In order to succeed, it

must achieve JAMB’s objective of assessing

candidate’s knowledge in the subject areas,

while avoiding JAMB’s pitfalls, thereby

reintroducing

credibility in the

selection process

into the Nation’s

Universities. A

case study of the

Post UME

screening test

conducted by the

University of Port Harcourt shows some

important features. The test consists of two

sections namely; a main section which is largely

an abridged version of the JAMB examination

with three core subjects and the use of English

language in a multiple-choice format and a

short essay section designed to test candidate’s

ability to express his or herself in writing. The

multiple choice questions were selected from

past UME questions which are widely available.

The entire examination is answered in a single

compact answer sheet with the essay on one

side and the objective answers on the other.

The examination was centrally coordinated to

ensure uniformity in conduct, with special

emphasis on accreditation of students, sitting

arrangement, invigilation, starting and finishing

time. Another notable feature of the

examination was the prompt grading of the

examination scripts and the compilation of

results within 48 hours. The whole process was

designed to ensure that the examination is free

and fair to all with participating students given a

level playing field. The invigilators were all

seasoned academic staff and senior

administrative staff who would either not

receive bribe because of their integrity, or could

not afford to, because of the stringent

supervision by the centre coordinators. The

grading of the examinations scripts was

promptly carried out by dedicated staff who

worked far into the night to ensure that the

day’s job was completed and results released

within 48hrs. The success of the exercise is a

testimony to the zeal, determination and

commitment of the academic staff to ensure that

only the best candidates were selected at the end

of the process. The results show that their

efforts were amply rewarded.

RESULTS OF THE SCREENING EXERCISE: The results of the Post-UME screening test can

only be

appreciated if the

grades were

compared to the

JAMB-UME

scores, and they

were truly

amazing! Tables

1 and 2 below

show the scores of the 20 best UME candidate

candidates in the Post-UME examination and

the scores of the best 20 Post-UME candidates

in the UME respectively for the department of

Pharmacy. Among the best 20 candidates in

the JAMB-UME examination whose scores

ranged from 279 to 296, none obtained the pass

mark of 50%, that is, 200 out of 400, in the

Post-UME screening test (table 1). In fact, eight

out of these 20 high flying JAMB candidates

actually scored less than 25%, that is, below

100 out of the possible 400 in the screening

exercise. A remarkable observation in this first

Post-UME screening exercise is that the highest

performing JAMB candidate in the UME

examination with a score of 296 scored only a

meagre 30 points in the POST-UME screening

test!

A remarkable observation in this first Post-

UME screening exercise was that the highest

performing JAMB candidate in this department

with a score of 296 in the UME examination

only managed a score of 30 out of 400 points in

the Post-UME screening test!

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On the other hand, the 20 best candidates in the

Post-UME screening test with scores ranging from

256 to 326 had relatively low UME scores ranging

from 203-272 (table 2). The two best performing

candidates in the Post-UME screening exercise in

the department of pharmacy scored only 211

and 203 in JAMB and obviously would not

have stood a chance of getting admitted if the

JAMB scores were used for admission. None

or only a few of them at best would have been

admitted if the performance in the UME was

used. This is the consistent observation in all

the faculties and departments of the University

of Port Harcourt, where candidates with the

highest scores in the UME examination failed to

perform in the Post-UME screening test. The

two highest scoring candidates in the UME

examination could only manage scores of 30

and 52

respectively in

the Post UME

test. This is

atrocious.

One of the short

essays written by

a candidate for

the department of management in the faculty of

Management sciences was scanned and

reproduced below in the candidate’s own hand

writing for the benefit of the doubting

Thomases (figure 1).

It clearly confirms the inability of the student to

express himself in English. The writing is very

bad, the tenses were mixed up, and the spellings

cannot be comprehended. If a primary school

pupil writes like this, he would not pass the first

school leaving certificate examination. Who

then expects a University to admit such a

candidate? This is just the tip of the iceberg.

The professors grading the scripts could not

help but read aloud some of these essays. These

were really bad candidates and I can not stop

wondering who wrote the primary school,

secondary school (junior and senior) and the

UME examinations for them.

More revealing

still was the result

of the

comparative

analysis of the

Post-UME result

vis-à-vis the

UME for seven

departments with a total candidate strength of

9,428. When the candidates who scored 200

and above in the UME were ranked into four

Table 1: Performance of the

best 20 UME candidates in the

Post -UME screening exercise

(Department of Pharmacy)

S/No Reg. Number UME PUME

1. 52597046CD 296 30 2. 52604807GF 293 52 3. 52608062FC 292 144 4. 52607035FE 289 196 5. 52616773BC 289 166 6. 52453740DH 288 88 7. 52595581FD 288 60 8. 53179568AJ 287 144 9. 52637487EH 286 108 10. 52275548EG 285 120 11. 53587373DJ 285 52 12. 52578483DE 285 40 13. 52594408IA 284 140 14. 52630465GE 284 96 15. 53179567BC 283 124 16. 52592118IJ 283 88 17. 5260559 JA 282 168 18. 52578956GE 281 168 19. 52638942EH 281 148 20. 52568058HF 281 122

Table 2: Performance of the

best 20 Post -UME candidates

in JAMB’S UME (Department

of Pharmacy)

S/No Reg. Number PUME UME

1. 52567492CH 326 211 2. 52637105II 306 203 3. 53282265CE 296 268 4. 52189064CD 296 267 5. 52922085EH 294 231

6. 52502810HD 290 244 7. 52143120GJ 288 276 8. 53245399AI 282 245 9. 52705420CH 280 236 10. 52273054FJ 276 263 11. 52634247GH 272 266 12. 52591314FA 272 214 13. 52170672AG 268 272 14. 52598037FH 268 271 15. 52617212FO 268 226 16. 52954707FE 264 229 17. 5249907FH 264 228

18. 52595913CH 260 248 19. 52786331AG 260 203 20. 52536138JG 256 251

The two best performing candidates in the Post-

UME screening exercise in the department of

Pharmacy scored only 211 and 203 respectively

in JAMB and obviously would not have stood a

chance of getting admitted if the JAMB scores

were used for admission.

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groups based on their UME scores, it was

observed that candidates who scored between

200 and 225 marks (that is, the lowest ranking)

in the UME recorded the highest percentage

pass in the Post-UME screening test with the

exception of Sociology and Management.

Furthermore, when the results of the seven

departments were combined and analyzed using

regression analysis it was observed that there

was an inverse correlation between percentage

of students who passed the Post-UME screening

test and performance in the UME examination

with a correlation coefficient of over 93%.

When a similar analysis was carried out for the

department of Electrical Engineering with a

population of over 1,000 candidates, an inverse

correlation coefficient of over 98% was

observed. In simple language it means that the

‘best’ students selected by the UME were

actually the ‘worst’ by the Post UME standard.

The Bar-charts in figure 2 tell the whole story.

HOW COULD THIS BE? Two important factors need to interact to

produce the observed results. First, the poor

candidates must be able to cheat massively in

order to obtain such high scores! Secondly, the

good candidates must be seriously handicapped

to perform so poorly in the UME examination.

We believe that these two observations are

linked to a single variable, that is, the officiating

invigilators, supervisors and coordinators.

Though many of the candidates were

determined to cheat right from the beginning,

their desires would not have been fulfilled if the

invigilators were not compromised. Many

invigilators sets target

of income they would

realize at the end of

every JAMB

examination exercise.

They even go further to

make budgets based on

the expected illegal

income. In order to achieve their financial

targets, the invigilators not only accept the

gratifications offered by those who are

determined to cheat, but actually determine how

much should be paid for the various categories

of malpractice. Unfortunately, they also try to

impose these illegal fines on the genuine

hardworking candidates who are not interested

in

examination malpractice. Where the candidates

resist, their answer sheets were confiscated

while others are writing, or they are made to

submit their scripts before the time allotted

expires. They are

further subjected to

other forms of

harassment to further

destabilize them all in

an attempt to make

them succumb to the

extortion. The result is

that the good candidates would perform below

their normal capacity while the cheats would

smile at their good fortunes.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? 1. We must consolidate the gains of the Post

UME screening exercise: The initial

success of the Post UME screening exercise

(Figure 1 A scanned copy of a short essay written by a successful JAMB candidate (above): below, a typed version of the hand written essay. This candidate scored 287 in the UME examination conducted by JAMB and would have been admitted to read Management in Uniport, but for the intervention of the Post UME test where he or she managed to score only 64 (sixty four) out of 400) How I spent my last holiday I was very greateful when my perants had told me that I will spent my holiday in Abuja with my cosine. I have went there is a lost of things I have withness like Obasanjo resistance where all the our government workers has doing there meeting. many hotels like bolingo towers & many of them I have staying with my cosine and he is very greateful that I am an obident child and when I decied to coming back I have brought me a lost of thing that I will go back to school if I got Admission in Uniport.

Standardization of the Post-UME

screening process both in structure

and in content should be loudly

advocated if it is to be considered an

acceptable complement to the UME.

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in some institutions should not generate a

state of euphoria in the University

community yet. While many Universities

obviously fared well in the first edition of

the Post-UME screening exercise, there

were very disturbing reports about gross

malpractice in the conduct of the exercise in

others. In some, the results were not

released for a long time giving time for will

students to seek out the officers in charge

who were alleged to be asking for up to a

hundred thousand Naira for scores to be

upgraded. Others conducted written

screening tests consisting of a few questions

in current affairs that had no bearing at all

on the student’s field of study. A few more

introduced similar tests in a computer based

format. Some universities did not conduct

any Post-UME exercise. The current state

of the Post-UME exercise may be described

as a mixed blessing at best and a state of

total anarchy at the worst. JAMB started

well but has ended where it is today. The

problems that crippled JAMB are still with

us. The hordes of candidates that invaded

the campus before the screening test, with

bags of money, looking for help tells the

entire story. Even after the completion of

the examination and the release of results,

they were still parading the campus, but this

time they were more desperate. The Post-

UME screening exercise is the beginning of

a process. It has the obvious advantages of

catering for a smaller number of candidates

with the administrators having greater

control over the officials who oversee the

process. What will become of it tomorrow

depends on how it is handled today. It is

not yet ‘Uhuru’!

Standardization of the screening process

both in structure and in content should be

loudly advocated for it to be considered an

acceptable complement to the UME. At the

University of Port Harcourt it has been

structured after the pattern and content of

the UME but contained much less

questions consisting of three core courses

and the use of English. In this maiden

edition, an essay component has been

added to test the candidates’ ability to

express themselves in the language of

instruction in the Nigerian Universities,

that is, English. Some Universities with

very high reputation conducted oral

interviews that had no bearing on the

candidates area of specialization. In

addition, such oral interviews are more

likely to be subject to arbitrariness and

subjectivity since the outcome may be

influenced by the personality of the

candidate and the disposition of members

of the interviewing panel.

Structures to minimize malpractice before,

during and after the conduct of the Post-

UME examinations must be put in place,

reviewed frequently, and strictly adhered

to. People were ready to pay upwards of

N100, 000 in the hope of getting their poor

grades upgraded. There is an institution

where this was rumoured to have happened

even at the maiden edition of the exercise.

There is a need to maintain the credibility

of the process by the use of external

monitors from other stake holders in the

higher education system, including parents,

NUC, JAMB, NGOs and the News media.

The Post-UME screening process should

not be shrouded in secrecy; the more

transparent it is the more acceptable it is

bound to be.

The introduction of concessional admission

during the selection process which permits

poorly performing candidates to be

admitted ahead of much better candidates

must be stopped since it is an illegality.

The admission criteria supplied by NUC

recognized three categories of candidates

namely, merit, catchment and

Educationally Less Developed States

(ELDS). The admission process must be

monitored and seen to comply with laid

down rules so that the gains of the rigorous

screening exercise may not be frittered

away by this illegal act. Sometimes, up to

50% of an institutions admissions may be

made up of the concessional admissions

which in not only illegal, but immoral and

unjust. It appears that JAMB, the body

mandated to oversee this process is either

unable to or unwilling to do so because of

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incompetence or corruption since they all

benefit from the illegal concessions.

2. JAMB must restructure and streamline

its operations to remain relevant in the

initial selection process.

The number of people currently taking the

JAMB examinations is too large and

unmanageable. This is obviously one of

the reasons for JAMB’s inability to handle

the examinations effectively.

Most of the candidates sitting for JAMB

are not qualified, hence their tendency to

participate in examination malpractice.

Since the Universities require a minimum

of 5 relevant credits to register, this should

be the same qualification for the JAMB

examinations

There is a need for JAMB to synchronize

the commencement time for the

examination nationwide. Non

synchronization allow for question papers

to be smuggled out of one centre, solved

and answers communicated to students in

centres that

commence their

examinations later

Many of the JAMB

officials especially

those that are

selected to act as

supervisors are

corrupt and

incompetent. The

admissions officers that serve as JAMB’s

liaison officers in the Universities do not

normally participate in the examination

process in the Universities where they

serve, and hence may not be the best

persons to coordinate the examinations.

The invigilators are responsible for most of

the malpractices that mar the UME

conducted by JAMB. They have no

allegiance to either the Universities or the

JAMB establishment. They should be

selected under more stringent rules.

Many centres, especially those in the

malpractice prone zones should be

completely eliminated, and the candidates

made to pay by travelling longer distances

to centres that are more compliant.

Invigilators should be paid a more

reasonable remuneration in contrast to what

is currently given which appear to be ‘an

incentive’ to indulge in malpractice

IN CONCLUSION: The Post-UME screening test has not been

introduced to replace JAMB but to correct the

ills associated not only with the UME

conducted by JAMB, but also with the

malpractice riddled senior secondary school

certificate examinations. It has succeeded, at

least in some institutions, in producing an

authentic ranking of candidates applying for

admission into the Nigerian university which is

different from the one that emerged after the

JAMB exercise. It is believed that this will

offer the genuine and qualified candidates a

golden opportunity to fulfil their life’s ambition

of continuing their studies in a University, an

ambition that has

hitherto been dashed by

the high level of

malpractice in JAMB.

The intervention of the

Post-UME screening

test we believe will

further encourage the

hard working and

intelligent Nigerian

student to continue to work hard knowing that

their efforts will ultimately be crowned by a

brilliant performance in the Post UME which

would guarantee them a place in the University.

The genuine candidates are now looking

forward and working towards it because they

know that herein lies their salvation! This effort

should be commended and encouraged since it

may ultimately bring solution to some of the

myriads of problems plaguing the Universities

including examination malpractice, fake

certificates, prostitution and cultism.

Concession which sometimes makes

up to 50% of an institutions

admissions permits poorly

performing candidates to be admitted

ahead of much better candidates. It is

not only illegal, but immoral and unjust and hence must be stopped

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Figure 2: Relationship between the UME scores and percentage pass in the Post-UME

exercise in seven departments at the University of Port Harcourt. Inserts: Regression analysis

for all seven departments (comprehensive) and electrical engineering department only

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UME SCORES AND PERCENTAGE PASS IN THE POST UME

EXERCISE IN SEVEN DEPARTMENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

3520

0-22

5

226-

250

251-

275

≥ 27

6

200-

225

226-

250

251-

275

≥ 27

6

200-

225

226-

250

251-

275

≥ 27

6

200-

225

226-

250

251-

275

≥ 27

6

200-

225

226-

250

251-

275

≥ 27

6

200-

225

226-

250

251-

275

≥ 27

6

200-

225

226-

250

251-

275

≥ 27

6

CHEMICAL

ENGINEERING

ELECTRICAL

ENGINEERING

SOCIOLOGY PHARMACY MEDICINE ACCOUNTINGMANAGEMENT

UME SCORE RANGES

% P

AS

S A

T P

OS

T-U

ME

R2 = 0.9836

0

5

10

15

20

25

200-225 226-250 251-275 ≥ 276

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

% P

AS

S A

T P

OS

T-U

ME

R2 = 0.9398

0

5

10

15

20

25

200-225 226-250 251-275 ≥ 276

COMPREHENSIVE

% P

AS

S A

T P

OS

T-U

ME