Education

Tinubu directs inclusion of NOUN graduates in NYSC scheme, law school

Published

2 weeks ago

April 17, 2024

Advocate News Nigeria

Tinubu directs inclusion of NOUN graduates in NYSC scheme, law school

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

President Bola Tinubu has directed the Ministry of Education to include graduates of the National Open University in the National Youth Service Corps scheme.

Tinubu also resolved the longstanding admittance of NOUN Law graduates to participate in Law School in the country for equal opportunities.

He made the disclosure during his presentation at the 13th convocation ceremony of NOUN on Saturday, at the university’s Convocation Arena, Jabi, Abuja.

Before now, NOUN graduates in 2017 were assured by the former vice chancellor of the institution, Abdallah Adamu, that they would soon be able to participate in the National Youth Service Corps and the Nigerian Law School.

Adamu, in an interview, said, “The fact is that the National University Commission law doesn’t allow those who do part-time studies to do NYSC, and the original Act that established NOUN says we offer courses by correspondence, and that is the expression NYSC is using to say ‘if it’s a correspondence course, then it is part-time, if it’s part-time, then the students are not eligible for NYSC.’

A few years later, a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt squashed a suit by Law graduates of NOUN seeking admission into the Nigerian Law School.

Some graduates of the NOUN Law Department instituted a legal action on May 12, 2015, against the Council of Legal Education, the National University Commission, the Attorney General of the Federation and NOUN over their refusal to admit them into the Law School.

In their suit, the graduates wanted the court to compel the relevant authorities to make provisions to include graduates of the NOUN in the Nigerian Law School as benefiting from law graduates from other institutions.

But Tinubu gave the new directive through the Deputy Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Biodun Saliu, who represented him at the convocation on Saturday, adding that the opportunity is within the age bracket as allowed by the law.

He said, “With the changing demographics of our great nation, the government has recognised the importance of allowing NOUN graduates to participate in the NYSC scheme.

“The doors of the Law School are now open to the graduates, ensuring equal opportunities for all. Any remaining concerns or uncertainties should be promptly addressed by the Federal Ministry of Education.

“We will continue to do this in order to improve quality, access, and affordability.

“Government is, therefore, committed through the Federal Ministry of Education and the NUC to provide the enabling environment to ensure a good delivery of this mode of education in Nigeria.”

The president noted that the gathering was not just a celebration of the graduates’ academic successes but also highlighted the crucial role that Open and Distance Education has in shaping the nation’s educational framework.

He, therefore, affirmed his administration’s commitment to enhancing ODL to expand access to higher education across the nation, emphasizing that the utilisation of ODL is essential for meeting the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

The president expressed satisfaction with what NOUN has become, stressing that it is a central figure in advancing the government’s commitment to achieving educational goals through ICT.

Education

2024 UTME: 77% of 1.8M candidates score less than 200

Published

22 hours ago

April 29, 2024

Advocate News Nigeria

2024 UTME: 77% of 1.8M candidates score less than 200

UTME candidates

Seventy-seven per cent of the 1,842,464 candidates whose 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination results were released by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Monday scored less than 200.

Giving a breakdown of the results of the 1,842,464 candidates released, the Board’s Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede noted that, “8,401 candidates scored 300 and above; 77,070 scored 250 and above; 439,974 scored 200 and above while 1,402,490 scored below 200.”

The Board is expected to announce the minimum benchmark for the 2024/2025 academic session admissions during its policy meeting to be held at a later date.

Over the years the benchmark for admissions to universities has hovered around 180 to 200.

Oloyede also gave the new format for acceptance of admissions.

He said, “ Either a candidate sends ACCEPT/REJECT on his dedicated phone line to 55019/66019, or a candidate accepts or rejects any admission offer (programme change inclusive) with his/her fingerprint (biometric) at an accredited CBT centre or any JAMB Office.

“The above newly-crafted methods of accepting or rejecting admissions, are aimed at protecting the details of the candidates and upholding the sanctity of the admission process.

“With this new method, the candidates’ registered phone (SIM) is now more important than ever as it is now required to perform even more sensitive operations. We are in discussions with NCC on dedicated student’s SIM with restricted services.”

Education

1.94 million students sat for 2024 JAMB Exam – Registrar

Published

6 days ago

April 24, 2024

Advocate News Nigeria

JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede

The Registrar, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof Ishaq Oloyede, says no fewer than 1.94 million candidates sat for the 2024 examinations in the country.

Oloyede said this on Wednesday in Kaduna, while inspecting Computer Based Test (CBT) centres in the state amidst the ongoing JAMB examinations.

He added that at the end of the examination today, there would be less than 100,000 candidates remaining in Lagos, Benue and other states in the country.

Oloyede explained that the pace at which JAMB cleared candidates and captured biometrics made the exercise faster.

He noted this was part of JAMB’s re-engineering process towards ensuring hitch-free exercise.

“Even today, I have seen something which we need to improve on, but most importantly, we have done so many things in the background to make the exercise faster, more efficient and better. We have increased the level of automation,” he said.

The Registrar frowned at examination cheaters, saying “It does not pay”.

He said that most of the problems JAMB faced were impersonation.

He specifically said most of the cases were candidates who have double National Identification Number (NIN), adding that JAMB would take up the issue with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

“The important thing is that we are ahead of the impersonators, we have arrested a father writing examinations for his son, the kind of parenting in this generation is uncalled for, I wonder what the father will tell the son if they are locked up in the same cell.

“We now have the facilities to check all sorts of impersonation and other malpractices,” he said.

The registrar, however, thanked parents for their support, recalling that in previous years; they were seen loitering around examination centres disturbing.

“There is no report this year of parents intruding, except one state. In that state, they felt since the first session failed, their children should not continue with the second or other sessions.

“Out of the country’s 775 centres, those who failed were not up to 20, and only one failed. Less than 30 of the centres failed at the first session because of ill preparation.

“When such things happen, the candidates should stay aside for the next session to move because questions are designed individually for a candidate,” he said. (NAN)

Education

Abuja British School shuts down over bullying, assault of female student

Published

1 week ago

April 23, 2024

Advocate News Nigeria

Abuja British School shuts down over bullying, assault of female student

• Lead British International School

The management of Lead British International School, Abuja, has shut down the institution over the bullying incident that went viral on social media.

An X user, @mooyeeeeeee, posted two videos where the victim she identified as Maryam Hassan was repeatedly slapped by another female student. Brithe

The video generated thousands of comments by netizens who called on the school authorities to investigate the matter.

At a meeting on Tuesday, the school authorities announced a 3-day closure to enable them probe deeply into the matter.

A top member of staff said the decision to shut down the school temporarily was in the interest of all parties involved.

Earlier reports said tempers flared at the meeting when a parent walked up to the student who bullied her colleague and gave her a slap.

The student, who has been severely criticised, was seen walking into the premises accompanied by elderly males.

A lady identified as one of the parents walked up to the student, asking her, “She is proud of what she did. You are proud of what you did! You are proud right? Someone’s child; innocent child, you beat her, did you give birth to her? I am asking you, did you give birth to her?”

The student was trying to walk away so as to avoid confrontation, but the angry parent shoved her, saying, “I’m asking you: did you give birth to her?” The student muttered some incoherent words and the angry parent responded with a slap, before other elderly person around moved in to douse tension.

The Lead British International School had earlier said it has launched investigation into the matter.

In a statement issued earlier on Monday, it said the counselling unit of the school is helping the victimised student overcome the emotional and psychological impact.

The statement read, “We are committed to providing a safe and supportive learning environment for all our students. Hence, upon learning of the incident, we initiated the process of reaching out to the victim and family with a view to providing support, including access to counselling services to help them cope with the emotional and psychological impact of the incident.

“Additionally, we will be working with the perpetrators and their families, offering counselling and disciplinary measures to address their behaviour which has no place in society.

“We have also immediately initiated an investigation, appointing a dedicated team to conduct a thorough inquiry into the matter. The team has been gathering information, including reviewing video footage and interviewing witnesses, to understand the full scope of the incident and identify the immediate and remote causes.”

The federal government has also confirmed shutting down of the Lead British International School, Abuja for three days over the case of a student of the school, Namtira Bwala who was physically bullied and assaulted by her classmate, Maryam Hassan.

The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, who visited the school on Tuesday, announced the shutting down of the school following the outrage that trailed the viral video of how and where the female, Maryam brutally slapped and bullied Namtira.