Tertiary Education Is The Biggest Pains Of Nigerian Students

By GODFREY IMUESI	Last updated: 09/11/2011
It is natural that children aspire for tertiary education along their education life. For many persons a university certificate is the crown of many years of hard work in the course of their education. However the problems facing the average Nigerian student desirous of university education are enormous. This was again brought to the fore only last week, with the conduct of post UTME exams by a number of tertiary institutions with particular reference to the University of Benin and the state owned Ambrose Ali University. The crowd of students which turned out for the examination at both ivory towers was intimidating to say the least. Regrettably, as I stood by and watched this crowd of students desirous of University education I was forced to ask myself if aiming for a university certificate was a crime. Perhaps the crime was the population of persons jostling for these limited places. It is no secret that a vast majority of the students who sat for last week’s post UTME exams will end up disappointed following their failure to secure the much coveted admission they seek for. Even more painful is the fact that many of those who will lose out of admission this coming session failed to secure admission for the outgoing session. Even more painful is the fact that many of these persons in the category I just talked about will attempt gaining admission next session. Even more pathetic is the fact that a sizeable number of these persons will never secure the University admission they so dearly crave for. Not because they are not academically sound, but due to a number of factors not within their control, chief of which is the gross shortage of admission spaces in our Ivory towers. Only last year, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) made us understand that less than half the number of persons who sat for its exam passed. It became even more pathetic when the board revealed that of the number which were able to scale its hurdle, more than half of them will go home unable to secure a place in the Universities. Sadly the situation has not improved today. One is then left to ask if this is how the average Nigerian student would be left to continue. It is so painful that the average youth of today desirous of University education is not only subjected to a serious mental test primarily to prune down the number of students vying for university admission but also to reduce the rigour of the selection process on the part of the various institutions. Beyond that these students are further subjected to serious physical, psychological as well as financial stress which they certainly do not deserve. Many students have had to risk their lives traveling several miles on the very bad Nigerian roads all in the name of going to write post UTME exams, exams which would not have been needed if not for the highly defective nature of the system, yet having made this journey, gone through this risk, these students are still not guaranteed a place in the institution they seek. It is regrettable that in this century, this modern age of information communication technology, an age where I can gain admission for a programme in any university in the developed world without necessarily leaving the comfort of my living room, Nigerian students are taken through hell, all in the name of admission into the Ivory towers. What makes the scenario all the more pathetic is the fact that while the larger society is failing to catch up with the global trend of sophisticated ways of doing things (a situation where valuable and highly sensitive information in the public service are still kept in files in the 21st century) the nations ivory towers which ought to be the prime movers and possibly prime shapers of the nation due to the agglomeration of intellects in that community have virtually failed to fair any differently. Nigerian students cannot continue to be shouldered with this burden; after all they do not deserve it. Something drastic has to be done to change the system for good. How long are we going to continue to hide under the guise of systemic failure to allow things depreciate from bad to worse? Government, the private sector and all stakeholders in the nations’ education system have to come together to find a way of going round this serious and very embarrassing malady plaguing education especially tertiary education in the country. It is true that we may not be able to solve the problems immediately and at once, it is however important that we be seen to be doing something very important at addressing this massive problem. It is therefore not surprising that several persons don’t even bother trying to gain admission into these tertiary institutions, as many have come to see it as an effort in futility. Even more crushing is the way and manner successful students in post UTME exams struggle and jostle to finally have their names in the admission list of their various departments. We would be telling ourselves a serious lie if we claim that we do not know that many persons have made sizable financial gains from swindling the admission process in our tertiary institutions. Is it supposed to be so? The problem is, as we allow the system to fail, the products of such a failed system are more often than not failures themselves. Little wonder it was of no surprise when the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Austin Oniwon revealed quite recently that over 80% of the first class and second class upper graduates of Nigerian universities who sat for the corporations’ employment aptitude test failed the exam. That they failed the exam might not have been the most annoying thing. But that they failed it very well. In a nutshell it is very important that we undertake a very critical review of education, and the way our students are admitted for tertiary education in the country. More so the rigour they are usually subjected to all in the name of admission, which is not usually to test their quality for a place in such institution but basically a product of a systemic failure. This certainly would be a first line action to addressing some of the endemic problems in the nations’ education system. AS CULLED FROM NIGERIA OBSERVER