JAMB Begins Registration for NCE, Agricultural ND Applicants Without UTME

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has opened registration for people who want to enter Nigeria Certificate in Education, NCE, programmes without sitting the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.

The same chance is also open to candidates seeking National Diploma admission into non-technological agriculture-related courses.

This is already a major change in the admission process.

Under the new arrangement, qualified candidates can apply with their O'Level results and complete their registration through JAMB without writing the yearly UTME. The rule covers Colleges of Education offering NCE programmes and approved non-technological National Diploma courses linked to agriculture.

JAMB spokesperson Fabian Benjamin announced this in a statement issued on Thursday.

He said candidates who have the required O'Level credits can register at any Institutional Professional Registration Centre, IPRC, inside a College of Education. They can also use any JAMB Professional Registration Centre, PRC, across Nigeria.

The process is simple.

Candidates should go to one of the approved centres with their O'Level credentials and complete the required registration. They do not need to sit for the UTME before they can be considered for admission into the affected programmes.

Benjamin explained that the change came from a Federal Government decision.

The government had already approved an exemption for people applying for NCE programmes and non-technological agriculture-related courses. JAMB is now putting that decision into practice.

This means a candidate who wants to study an NCE course does not have to first go through the normal UTME process before moving forward.

But JAMB is still involved.

The candidate must still register through the board. Credentials still have to be checked. The admission still has to pass through the proper system. The UTME requirement has been removed for these programmes; the admission process itself has not disappeared.

Benjamin urged qualified candidates to make use of the opportunity at designated centres across the country.

There is also good news for people who already wrote the 2026 UTME and later changed their minds.

A candidate who sat the exam but now wants to move into an NCE programme or one of the affected non-technological agricultural courses can change the application at a designated registration centre.

JAMB said the conversion will cost nothing extra.

So a candidate who already paid, registered and sat for the 2026 UTME does not have to start throwing more money at another process just because the course choice has changed.

The board said the policy is meant to open the door wider for teacher education and agriculture-related programmes.

These areas have struggled with enrolment, and the government wants more students to consider them.

Still, JAMB said standards will remain.

The board said it has created an admission process that will make sure people without the proper qualifications do not simply walk into the programmes because the UTME has been removed.

That part is important.

The exemption is about removing one admission barrier. It does not mean every applicant automatically gets admitted.

Candidates still need the correct O'Level credits and must pass through screening and verification.

The policy first became public in May.

At the 2026 admission policy meeting in Abuja, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, announced that candidates with at least four relevant credit passes could apply for admission into Colleges of Education without sitting the UTME.

That announcement immediately changed the normal picture of admission into those programmes.

Alausa explained that the candidates would still have to register with JAMB.

Their results would still be screened. Their credentials would still be checked and certified. And when admission is eventually given, the official admission letter would still come through the Central Admissions Processing System, CAPS.

So the system has not been thrown away.

JAMB still sits inside the process.

The difference is that the UTME is no longer compulsory for the affected candidates.

Alausa also extended the same exemption to people seeking National Diploma admission into non-technology agricultural and related courses.

The reason was clear.

The government wants more students in those programmes.

Teacher education has been losing attention among many young Nigerians, while some agriculture-related courses also struggle to attract enough applicants. Removing the UTME requirement is one way the government hopes to reduce the barrier and pull more students into those fields.

It is a bold move, but it has already attracted criticism.

The Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, has raised concerns about the policy.

The union warned that the exemption could damage teacher education if it is handled badly.

Its fear is simple and serious. If admission becomes too loose, the quality of people entering teacher training may fall, and that could later affect the standard of the teaching profession.

The NUT believes care must be taken so that easier entry does not become weaker entry.

That concern sits directly beside the government's push for higher enrolment.

The government wants more people to enter teacher education and agriculture-related programmes. The teachers' union wants to make sure the rush for numbers does not lower professional standards.

JAMB says it has already thought about that danger.

According to the board, candidates will still have to prove that they meet the academic requirements before admission is approved.

No UTME does not mean no screening.

No UTME does not mean no checking.

A candidate still needs the right credits. The person still has to register with JAMB. The documents still have to be verified. The admission still has to move through CAPS.

That is the structure now in place.

For candidates who have been avoiding Colleges of Education because of the UTME process, the road has become shorter.

For those interested in non-technological agricultural National Diploma programmes, the same door is open.

And for people who already sat the 2026 UTME before deciding to switch into these programmes, JAMB says they can make the change without paying extra.

The policy now moves from announcement to real use.

Candidates who qualify can walk into an approved IPRC or JAMB PRC with their O'Level credentials and begin the process.

The exam that once stood in the middle is gone for these programmes.

The rules around qualification, screening and proper admission remain.

That is the balance the government is trying to hold: bring more people in, remove one major barrier, but do not allow standards to collapse while doing it.