The Federal Ministry of Education wishes to inform the general public, stakeholders in the education sector, parents, prospective students and Heads of Tertiary Institutions that the Federal Government has abolished polished Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination “UTME” Examination as a requirement for entry into Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) programmes in Colleges of Education as well as National Diploma (ND) Non-Technology Agriculture and Agriculture-related programmes in Polytechnics and Colleges of Agriculture nationwide.
The approval followed a stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa on 30th April, 2026, as part of Government’s efforts to address restrictive admission processes which has further contributed to the growing number of out-of- school adolescents, limited access to tertiary education opportunities, and low participation in critical teacher education and agricultural manpower development programmes.
In line with Government’s commitment to expanding access to tertiary education, promoting teacher education, strengthening agricultural training, and improving the efficiency, transparency and coordination of admission processes into Colleges of Education, Polytechnics and Monotechnic, the following implementation guidelines have been approved for immediate compliance.
It is important to note however, that, all prospective candidates will still be required to obtain the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) application form and process their admissions through the JAMB platform (CAPS). In addition, all admissions shall be conducted strictly through the JAMB Central Admission Processing System (CAPS), while existing minimum admission requirements remain unchanged.
The new guidelines further provide that all applicants must upload their O’Level results on the JAMB portal as part part of the admission process. Consequently, all admission letters for the affected programmes shall continue to be issued exclusively by JAMB upon due verification and compliance with prescribed admission requirements.
