UTME screening: JAMB wants varsities to update portals

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB)  has called on universities and other tertiary institutions in the country to regularly download and update their record at any given time in other to remain up to speed with the list of applicants seeking admission into their institution as forwarded to them by the board.

The Zonal Coordinator JAMB in Katsina state, Mr Mohammed Kankia told the Nation exclusively during an interview in his office in Katsina, that constant refreshing of the portals will ensure that no candidate seeking admission is denied the opportunity due to negligence occasioned by the attitude of such an institution

He said ’’several factors may necessitate change of institution by an applicant, including: choice of course of study, inability to meet up with the requisite admission cut off mark, pressure from parents particularly due to change of locations, etc’’

‘’We have made the process open and more simplified for them, and we have informed them first through Central Admission Processing Systems, CAPS, that on daily basis, they should download or refresh the lists and upload them on their portals, but this instruction seem to have been largely ignored’’

‘’I have dispatched letters three times now to the institutions in the state, and parents have been trooping to my office to ask questions but these institutions seem not to be complying with the directive’’

When asked what the board intends to do should the institutions fail to comply with the directive and the students denied the opportunity to participate in the ongoing UTME screening exercise, the JAMB boss urged such disenfranchised candidate to petition the board, promising that they would look into it

He said ’’A candidate may even apply for a change of institution even as at 11pm assuming the portal is expected to close by 12 pm same day, If a candidate is willfully denied opportunity to access and register for the screening exercise he can petition the board’’

‘’JAMB gave them all that they requires, if they don’t want to go on admitting candidates they can inform us to block their portals, after all, we made registration exercise easier for them’’

He further disclosed that the board’s primary mandate is to ensure equitable distribution of admission based on agreed guidelines and that the agency can enforce compliance by the institutions

-The Nation