Maths Shouldn't be a Compulsory Subject for Humanities - JAMB Boss

Professor Ishaq Oloyede

In what will excite many parents and students, especially those who want to read humanities in the Colleges of Education, Ishaq Oloyede has advocated that mathematics as a subject is absolutely unnecessary.

He said this, on Tuesday, in Abuja, while fielding questions from newsmen at the sideline of the ongoing three-day summit on the repositioning of the Colleges of Education System in Nigeria, where he also warned the Provosts of Colleges of Education against the conduct of illegal admissions.

Prof Oloyede's view was re-echoed by the President of Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COASU), Comrade Nuhu Ogirima, who noted that somebody who wants to undergo any course in Humanities does not require Mathematics for anything since such an individual would have acquired basic Mathematics at the basic and secondary levels of education.

Ogirima said this was one of the reasons why the summit was put together for stakeholders to brainstorm on the way forward for teacher education in the country.

The JAMB Registrar, on his part, expressed concern that application into Colleges of Education `were dwindling and there was the need to address the issue noting that part of the problem is systemic.

He said: "What I mean is that don't put an unnecessary requirement on the part of the candidates because if you so do, you want them to find an illegal way of circumventing the system. My own view is that Mathematics, in particular, should not be made compulsory for people who want to read humanities in the Colleges of Education. It is absolutely unnecessary.

He, however, said this does not mean that JAMB would not require Mathematics as a prerequisite for candidates sitting for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) except the law is changed.

The JAMB boss said it was not realistic to require somebody with five credits 'O' Level including Physics, Mathematics and English to go to read Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) in Yoruba or Hausa when such as a person could conveniently apply to study in any of the universities.

He also urged the Provosts of the Colleges of Education to be open and sincere in what they do, saying a lot of the admissions they do were illegal, stressing that the Board needs to know the correct statistics of those subscribe formally to the Colleges.

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