2020 Admissions: JAMB announces date for policy meeting

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has scheduled the 2020 policy meeting of all tertiary institutions for June 16.

The policy meeting is to be chaired by the minister of education, Adamu Adamu, with all heads of tertiary institutions in attendance.

In a weekly bulletin by the Spokesperson of the board, Fabian Benjamin, he said the meeting will chart policy directions for the nation’s tertiary institutions, set admission guidelines, and make a holistic review of application statistics, performance as well as evaluate the 2019 admissions exercise.

“The meeting, in addition to other deliberations, would take a stand on concessional and acceptable minimum admissions standards to be applied in all admissions to be undertaken by all tertiary institutions in Nigeria,” he said.

Benjamin also said the 2020 policy meeting will hold virtually.

Since the coronavirus outbreak in Nigeria, part of the protocols put in place by the government to curb the spread of COVID-19 is to limit the gatherings of people.

“Compliance with this directive has become imperative as no fewer than 4000 Heads of Tertiary Institutions comprising degree, diploma, NCE and NID-awarding institutions and other stakeholders would normally be expected to congregate at a location but because of extant protocols, would now be expected to participate in the virtual meeting,” Mr Benjamin said.

He said that the modalities for the meeting would entail the board issuing only one access code to each participating institution to join the meeting

“This access code is not to be shared or given to unauthorized persons. However, other critical stakeholders within the institutions like the Registrars, Admissions Officers can cluster around a big screen in a location to attend the meeting using the unique access code,” he said.

He said the meeting will discuss critical issues bordering on the advances made in the educational sector in the last one year in addition to setting the tone for the 2020/2021 admission exercise.

“The meeting would be streamed live on the Board’s website; www.jamb.gov.ng, its Facebook, JAMBulletin and other social media platforms,” he said.

The 2019 policy meeting held in Gbongan, Osun State, on June 11, 2019.

The venue was Bola Babalakin, Executive Auditorium and one of the purposes of the meeting was for education stakeholders to jointly determine the cut-off pass mark for 2019/2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME

The board also said candidates in the just-concluded 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, can begin to print their result notification slips.

“The results which had earlier been made available through text to candidates on request by them sending RESULT to “55019” but are now requesting for a printed version can now be printed free from the Board website: www.jamb.gov.ng,” the board said.

According to JAMB, all a candidate needs to do after visiting the site is to click on QUICK LINKS, then on “E-Facility” where the candidate would be required to provide his/her registration details and the result notification slip would be displayed for printing.

“The printing of the result notification slip is free as it is different from the original result slip that comes with the candidate’s picture.
Candidates can print their result notification slip anywhere in the country even from the comfort of their homes once there is internet access,” he said.

Benjamin said, until now, the board restricted the printing of result notification slips and had made it available to candidates only through SMS to avoid anxiety on the part of the candidates as well as prevent clustering at cybercafes with the attendant risk of COVID-19 contagion all in a bid to print result notifications.

“This new development, however, is predicated on the gradual easing of the lockdown and resumption of economic activities in most parts of the country,” he said.

He advised candidates to be wary of fraudulent elements masquerading as JAMB agents stating that it has not mandated any person or group to do the printing on behalf of the Board.

“Candidates are to note also that delegating this responsibility to third parties could result in wilful manipulation of their results.
Recall that last year some candidates who abused this privilege by attempting to manipulate their scores were caught and are currently saving various jail terms,” he said.

Benjamin said candidates are advised to note that any attempt to forge the slip would attract stiff sanctions.

“The decentralization of printing of result notification slips was done mainly to comply with the directives of the NCDC and other relevant agencies on social distancing,” he said.

The objective of JAMB is to conduct entrance Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, for prospective undergraduates into Nigerian universities.

The board is also charged with the responsibility to administer similar examinations for applicants to Nigerian public and private monotechnics, polytechnics, and colleges of educations.