Oloyede: JAMB not responsible for non-mobilisation of some HND students for NYSC

Ishaq Oloyede says the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is not to blame for the non-mobilisation of some Higher National Diploma (HND) students for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.

The JAMB registrar spoke on Friday during a meeting with the leadership of the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) in Abuja.

Earlier, some HND students accused JAMB of being responsible for their inability to participate in the national service.

The students claimed they were not mobilised for service because they did a part-time programme for their national diploma (ND).

Oloyede, during the meeting with NAPS, advised polytechnic students to channel their complaints to the “appropriate authorities”.

He said the board does not oversee the admission of HND students and therefore has no role in their mobilisation for the NYSC.

Oloyede argued that JAMB is being targeted by NAPS on the issue out of sheer ignorance.

“You are wasting your time talking to someone who has no involvement in the matter,” he said.

“If something affects you, the first step is to identify the root cause so that you don’t apply the wrong solution to a problem that does not exist.”

Oloyede explained that JAMB’s mandate is limited to conducting examinations for admission into universities, national diploma (ND), and Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) programmes but not HND programmes.

“We admit students for ND programmes. Once you graduate and seek HND admission, JAMB has no further role,” he added.

Oloyede also addressed concerns over part-time polytechnic programmes.

He expressed worry that some polytechnics design what they term “daily part-time” schemes to exploit students.

He blamed some of the challenges of affected students on institutions that admit more than the capacity specified by the government.

“NBTE asks them to admit 100 students for instance. They will take that 100 and register them for full-time ND. They will take another 1000 and they will be teaching them in the same class and will say those are part-time,” he said.

Earlier, the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) raised the alarm that the NYSC was requiring professional certification to mobilise laboratory technology graduates, some of whom were locked out of orientation camps across the country.