By Ade Oye
The Nigeria Baptist Convention, NBC, on Sunday, explained the rationale behind the hike in the fees of the 2021 Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board JAMB,.
Also, the Convention faulted allegations by the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, that the Baptist Girls Academy in Lagos hiked the 2021 JAMB fees, as seen in a video widely circulated in the social media.
In a press statement by its Chairman, Education Management Board, Prof Oyesoji Aremu, the NBC described the encounter, which was captured during a tour of a registration centre in Lagos, as “disheartening and disturbing.”
Recalled that during the tour last Wednesday, the JAMB Registrar had questioned a supervising teacher of the Baptist Girls’ Academy and his pupils on the cost of the JAMB registration.
Asked by Oloyede to provide information on their JAMB registration fees, the pupils claimed they were compelled to pay N8,000 each, while the teacher insisted that it is actually charged N4,700.
However Aremu, in the statement titled ‘JAMB Fee: Prof. Oloyede’s Media Trial of Baptist Girls Academy,’ argued that the question of the alleged N8,000 collected by pupils ought to have been properly investigated by the JAMB registrar before subjecting the school and the teacher, who took the girls out for registration, to harsh public criticism.
According to him, the breakdown of the charges included JAMB registration, (N3,500); novel, which he said was recommended and provided by JAMB (N500); Computer-Based Test charges (N700), Test Driller software and installation – CBT practice kit (N2,000); and transportation and feeding (N1,300).
He added that the fee was charged with the consent of the parents through the Parents Teachers’ Association platform, stressing that the academy was a private school not funded by the government.
Aremu said, “Baptist Mission Schools abhor illicit and sharp practices; and the same are disallowed in their engagements within and outside. On the above premise, it was disheartening and disturbing watching a video clip that went viral since Wednesday, April 28, 2021 following the unscheduled tour of duty of the hardworking JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede.
“In the video clip, Prof. Oloyede assumed the role of a ‘prosecutor and judge’ against the defenceless teacher, Mr. Kayode Oloyede who was also on a scheduled assignment.
“Here, the JAMB Registrar, publicly put on ‘trial’ Mr. Oloyede, a teacher at Baptist Girls Academy. This puts some questions on the social image of the teacher, and on the public image of Baptist Mission Schools in Nigeria.
“Let me make it clear that the alleged money in excess of what the Registrar alluded to was charged with the consent of the parents through the Parents Teachers’ Association platform. Ours is a private school not funded by the Government. The question is, who pays for services to be rendered when such charges are not part of the termly school fee regime?
“Beyond what Prof. Oloyede made the public to believe by singling out one of the Baptist Mission Schools, it is in the public domain that other private schools in Nigeria charged fees that ranged between #10,000.00 and #25,000.00, depending on the services that will be provided during the examinations for the student,
“While the JAMB Registrar is lauded for his quality assurance tour of duty as his practice every year, he is advised to show more discernment and restraint so as not to give the wrong labels as his actions portrayed in the video clip that went viral.
“The best Prof. Oloyede could have done in the referred video clip, if he suspected any infraction by the School, was to have called the Proprietor of Baptist Mission Schools in Nigeria or draw the attention of the Ministry of Education, Lagos state, to it. Public offices are supposed to be held in trust for all and in the best interest of all.”
