The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board is considering introducing life skills and critical thinking into the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination to broaden its assessment of candidates seeking admission into tertiary institutions.
The board’s Registrar, Prof. Segun Aina, disclosed this on Wednesday during an appearance on the Good Morning Nigeria programme on the Nigerian Television Authority, saying the proposed reforms would enable JAMB to evaluate candidates beyond their knowledge of conventional academic subjects.
Aina explained that a candidate’s UTME score did not necessarily reflect their overall level of knowledge, noting that the examination was primarily designed to rank candidates based on their performance relative to others.
“It is not how good you are that your JAMB score speaks to. It is more about how you rank against others,” he said.
He noted that the minimum entry score was influenced by the overall performance of candidates in a particular examination year, meaning that the same score could have different implications depending on how other candidates performed.
“If you are in a cohort of JAMB candidates where everybody scores above 300, then 299 will suddenly start to look like a very low score. So, we must put this thing in proper perspective,” the registrar said.
On the proposed changes, Aina said JAMB was examining ways to incorporate life skills and critical thinking into the UTME to ensure the examination better reflected the abilities required in higher education.
He added that a committee comprising education stakeholders and experts had been established to review the proposal and recommend how the competencies could be assessed.
The committee is expected to determine whether the skills should be introduced as separate examination components or integrated into existing UTME subjects.
The registrar also disclosed that the board had introduced measures to address challenges faced by candidates seeking to update their personal information, particularly those who had lost access to their registered phone numbers or email addresses.
According to him, candidates can now follow established procedures to change their contact details, while a new National Identification Number alignment process allows them to update their records with the National Identity Management Commission before synchronising the information with their JAMB profiles.
Aina said the changes were intended to resolve difficulties caused by discrepancies in candidates’ personal records, which had prevented some from proceeding with their admission plans.
“Before, you could not change your name or your date of birth on the JAMB profile,” he said, explaining that the revised process was designed to address such cases.
“Thousands of people were stuck. They completed their degrees; they couldn’t go to university because this wasn’t possible. It is now possible,” he added.
He advised candidates to consult JAMB’s official website and social media platforms for further details on the new procedures and other services provided by the board.
