By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
No less than 1.3 million candidates sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in the year 2020. And only a tiny percent of that number scored 300 and above. Shockingly, nearly half of these highfliers didn’t gain admission into any tertiary institution.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has now explained why these candidates who scored more 300 or more in the UTME suffered this setback.
According to JAMB registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, 4,948 candidates scored 300 or more in their UTME, and 1,456 of them did not secure admission into tertiary institutions for the 2020/2021 academic session.
Oloyede, during a virtual 2021 admission policy meeting chaired by Adamu Adamu, the minister of education, said only 3,492 candidates among those who scored 300 or more gained admissions into higher institutions, with the remaining 1,456 unable to pull through.
He said 1,085 of the 1,456 candidates who scored over 300 but were unable to secure admission applied to study medicine.
Oloyede also said revealed that 52,323 candidates scored between 250 and 299 in the exam out of which 22,580 could not secure admission.
He also said 193,661 candidates out of 347,469 who scored between 200 and 249 were not offered admission.
Oloyede blamed a number of factors for the inability of the students who made high UTME scores but could not secure placement in any tertiary institution.
He said wrong O’level subject combination and low post-UTME screening scores was a possible reason, plus the preferences of applicants who would not settle for any programme other than their first choice.
He also said absence during post-UTME screening, mismatch of catchment institutions, and failure of candidates to upload their O’level with five credits in the required subjects, were also possible reasons.