JAMB Waives UTME Requirement for Education and Agriculture Courses

News in Brief:

-JAMB has removed the UTME requirement for students seeking admission into education and non-engineering agriculture courses.

-The decision has sparked mixed reactions, with supporters praising easier access and critics raising concerns about academic standards.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced that candidates seeking admission into education programmes and non-engineering agriculture courses will no longer be required to sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Under the new arrangement, applicants for the affected courses can gain admission using only their O-Level results, provided they meet the requirements set by their chosen institutions.

The development comes as many tertiary institutions across Nigeria have already phased out Post-UTME examinations in favour of online screening of uploaded O’Level and UTME results. The approach is widely considered cheaper, faster, and easier to manage than conducting computer-based tests (CBT) for thousands of candidates.

Institutions adopting online screening are also able to move directly to verification and admission processes, reducing delays in the admission cycle. Supporters of the system argue that it also helps limit examination malpractice and bribery, often associated with physical entrance examinations.

However, the decision to remove UTME requirements for some courses has generated mixed reactions online. Critics argue that the move could lower academic standards for professions such as teaching.

One social media user questioned the policy, saying the programmes were being treated as though they no longer required “standards or competence.”

“So, any average Joe with O-Level can just stroll into teaching our kids? Instead of fixing schools, paying teachers well, or raising standards, they are lowering the bar to zero," another commenter wrote,

Others, however, defended the policy, arguing that the removal of UTME requirements could encourage more students to pursue education and agriculture-related courses, which have struggled with declining interest in recent years.

Some supporters also acknowledged that tertiary entrance examinations still play an important role in screening candidates, especially given concerns over weak invigilation and malpractice in some O-Level examinations.

The announcement was made shortly after JAMB concluded its 2026 Policy Meeting. At the meeting, the board also approved new minimum admissible scores for tertiary institutions: 150 for universities and colleges of nursing, and 100 for polytechnics.