2022 UTME: Insufficient Slots Available For Medicine Course Candidates, Says JAMB

JAMB, in a recently released statistics, revealed that around 367,499 candidates applied for the 43,717 slots available in Medicine Departments in Nigerian universities for the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME)conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

Punch reports that according to data, Medicine had the highest percentage of candidates who selected the course as their first choice across Nigerian universities. 
 
The 2022 statistics also disclosed that 231,907 chose social science courses, although only 93,277 slots are available while 204,734 applied for science-related courses despite 132,796 available spots.

For law-related courses, the data revealed that 81,653 applied despite 8,529 vacancies; 103,891 students applied for technology-related courses with 60,199 vacancies; 72,014 applied for courses in Arts and Humanities Departments in spite of 48,744 spaces available.

JAMB, however, pointed out that despite the abundance of slots in the Agriculture and Education Departments, the percentage of students who applied was low. 

The board disclosed that 53, 612 students applied for Education courses despite the 111,601 openings while 21,568 applied for Agriculture in spite of the 31,217 spaces available. 

Our correspondent learnt that the board’s Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, raised the issue when he met with the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu; and heads of agencies as part of the board’s policy meeting in Abuja last Thursday.

Speaking of the statistics in a meeting with Minister of Education Adamu Amadu, JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede reportedly said:

 “Look at Medicine, for instance, we had 367,499 for a vacancy of 43,717 which means we only have a vacancy of 11.90 per cent for those that applied.

“Same thing with Social Science, but when you come to Education, you have 53,000 applicants for positions of over 100,000 which means that even if you admit all those who applied for Education even if they don’t have the qualifications, we still have vacancies. That is why for such persons, if only they have their O’level results, they get admitted.

“The UTME is a factor of inadequacy in the syntax of numbers. If we have enough vacancies, we will probably not have UTME. The same thing with agriculture, Agric is even worse than education." 

Also speaking on the report, the Programme Director, Reform Education Nigeria, Ayodamola Oluwatoyin, emphasised the need for students to be informed before they graduate from secondary school while stressing the importance of acquiring the required skills for getting employment.

“We live in an age when it doesn’t matter your course of study. What matters are the required skills? There used to be a time when people used to think that if you are not a doctor or a nurse, you won’t be successful. This is not right, these days we have people venturing into tech jobs among others.

“Another factor is the unequal distribution of jobs across sectors. These days, people believe that once you study Education, you will end up as a teacher in one private school or if you study Agriculture, you won’t get a proper job.

“The government itself needs to set the pace to ensure that there is an investment in every sector. When you invest in Agriculture, Education and there are good jobs, you will see that applicants will continue to apply and it will reduce this imbalance we are looking at," Oluwatoyin said. 

Allnews Nigeria reports that no fewer than 1.8 million candidates applied for the 2022 UTME/DE examinations conducted by JAMB (a Nigerian examination board that conducts examinations for tertiary institutions aspirants in the country).