JAMB Warns Schools on Admission Rules, Sets Deadline

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has cautioned numerous higher education institutions that breached admission protocols, labeling their conduct as an “aberration” and insisting on complete adherence within seven days.

The institutions, called to a meeting with JAMB on August 18, 2025, expressed remorse and requested the Board to “show leniency in justice” after failing to upload their lists of matriculated candidates even though they admitted students via the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS).

All of this was outlined in the weekly bulletin released by the agency on Monday.

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, criticized the violations, stating, “You conducted admissions through CAPS but have not matriculated any students.

“We believe that before we send the report to the government, we should have a discussion with you.”

Referencing Section 23, subsection 7 of the admission guidelines, Oloyede reminded the institutions that they are obligated to submit or upload lists of matriculated candidates to the Board for evaluation before approval for matriculation ceremonies is granted.

He stressed, “Any student whose name is NOT included in the National Matriculation List will be regarded as not having been admitted by JAMB, rendering their admission invalid. No such unauthorized admissions will be accepted.”

Registrar Warns of Lawsuits from Candidates

The registrar cautioned that the repercussions of these violations extend beyond regulatory penalties.

“In addition to disenfranchising students, they may also file lawsuits against the institutions for infringing upon their rights,” Oloyede warned.

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Agreements and Compliance Deadline

Following the meeting, the institutions resolved to “submit formal letters of apology on CAPS within 24 hours.

“Upload all outstanding matriculation lists within seven days from August 18, 2025, and

“Ensure that affiliated institutions strictly operate under their parent institutions, overseen by appointed officers.

JAMB emphasized that the apologies would serve as the foundation for incorporating matriculation lists “accordingly,” indicating a means to rectify the violations without penalizing innocent students.

Meanwhile, the Board noted that Olusegun Agagu University, Okitipupa, and Wellspring University, Benin, neglected to respond to its invitation, raising concerns about the potential for stricter penalties.

Oloyede concluded by reiterating JAMB’s strict stance against unauthorized admissions.

“The risks associated with grossly breaching these guidelines are substantial.

“We cannot permit a fraudulent system that jeopardizes the futures of candidates,” the JAMB leader concluded.

WAEC Grading Scandal: What Students Must Know

The embarrassing differences between the preliminary and revised results of the 2025 WASSCE published by WAEC have revealed the limitations of the regional examination body in implementing innovations to achieve optimal examination outcomes. Consequently, WAEC needs to raise its standards.

After JAMB’s technical issue with the 2025 UTME results earlier this year, this latest “glitch” further underscores that the nation’s two examination authorities, responsible for pupils’ school certificates and higher education admissions, have yet to master examination administration.

These avoidable mistakes bring up serious doubts regarding their ability to manage innovations such as CBT, which they expect students to adapt to. Thus, WAEC must take the lead in effectively using technology for examinations to ensure satisfactory results.

The initial results released by WAEC indicated that 38.32 percent of the 1,969,313 candidates who participated in the examination achieved credits and above in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

As students, parents, and other stakeholders voiced their anger over the results deemed the worst in the last decade, WAEC announced the suspension of its results portal, indicating it had detected a technical error in the results released.

Once the glitch was resolved and the results were reviewed, the examination body issued an updated version indicating that 62.96 percent, or 1,239,884 candidates, obtained five credits, including English and mathematics, in contrast to the original 38.32 percent. This marks a significant improvement of 24.64 percentage points from the first figure.

Despite this improvement, the 62.96 percent pass rate still falls short of the impressive performance levels maintained over the past four years (2021-2024), during which pass rates consistently surpassed 70 percent. It also undermines the continuous upward trend that has been evident in recent years.

In fact, the enhanced results fall within the range of 52.97 percent in 2016, 59.22 percent in 2017, 48.15 percent in 2018, 64.18 percent in 2019, and 65.24 percent in 2020. By this standard, the new result ranks third in the inconsistent outcomes observed from 2015 to 2020.

The Head of the National Office at WAEC, Nigeria, Amos Dangut, stated, “We investigated and found that a serialized code file was incorrectly used in the printing of the English Language Objective paper. This led to the papers being marked with faulty answer keys.” This explanation is simply unacceptable.

In terms of adopting and implementing innovations, WAEC has not succeeded. In addition to the glitch, WAEC forced students to take the exam at unusual hours. The English Language Objective Paper III was administered from 9 pm to 11 pm in some areas due to a leak in the examination.

While WAEC’s swift admission and rectification of the errors are praiseworthy, these qualities cannot replace a lack of competence. The examination body must exhibit thoroughness and professionalism and avoid unnecessary mistakes that could risk students’ futures and tarnish its reputation and that of the country.

Examination administration is not rigid. After all, other participating nations did not encounter this level of ineptitude.

The implementation of innovations signifies the beginning of a new phase in the School Certificate Examination, which rewards diligence. The stakeholders, such as parents, teachers, and students, must acknowledge this reality.

Students must understand that with the introduction of the serialization of objective papers in essential subjects and CBT, the era of examination malpractice is gradually coming to a close.

The unacceptable inconsistencies in student performance in WASSCE over the past decade and the disruption of the consistent high performance seen in the previous four years indicate that all stakeholders should accord education the attention it deserves.

State governments ought to prioritize education by hiring more teachers, offering fair salaries, and adequately funding educational infrastructure.