The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board
(JAMB) has revealed that the decision to reduce
the cut-off marks for admission into tertiary
institutions was done by stakeholders in the
education sector.
The examination body had been criticised for
the new cut of mark it released for the
2017/2018 academic session but it revealed that
this was done to make the process more
flexible.
Vanguard reports that Prof. Ishaq Oloyede who
is the registrar of JAMB allayed the fears of
Nigerians insinuating that it was a testament to
the failure in the sector.
He said the board recommendation was to only
provide the institutions with a benchmark and
that universities could raise their cut off marks
above 120 but not more than 180.
He said: “With this decision, universities are not to go
below the minimum 120 cut-off points adopted by the
meeting for admissions.
: “What JAMB did was a recommendation, we only
determined the minimum, whatever the various
institutions determine as their admission cut-off mark is
their decisions. The Senate and academic boards of
universities should be allowed to determine their cut-off
marks.”
Chief Afe Babalola in his reaction rejected the
new cut-off mark noting that he enjoyed good
and quality education and therefore expressed
worry over the new direction education was
taking in the country.
He said: “On June 3, last year, a day after the Federal
Government announced the scrapping of the Post-
UTME
as part of the qualifying procedure for admission into
Nigerian universities, I cautioned in a write-up that was
published in many Nigerian newspapers that that
singular step was nothing but a calamitous mistake.
“Good enough, the Federal Government, last week,
rescinded that position in favour of the Senate of
individual universities exercising its statutory powers of
determining who qualifies to be admitted into its
university.
“The euphoria that greeted the reinstatement of the
Post-UTME by protagonists of quality education was
still
very thick in the air before the air was fouled again
yesterday (Tuesday), when JAMB announced the
reduction of cut off marks for students angling for
admission into Nigerian universities.
“As a stakeholder in the education sector, I enjoyed
good
and quality primary school education when the pass
mark was a minimum of 50 per cent. I am, therefore,
worried and curious that this far-reaching decision
could be taken without due consideration for its
implication on the quality of education on offer in
Nigerian tertiary institutions.
“My position is that there is an urgent need for
education summit to be attended by regulators and
operators as well as well-meaning stakeholders in
education to diffuse this thick ice of confusion that has
engulfed our education landscape.”
NijaBlog has earlier criticize this decision and also the
uplifting of ban on post-utme
These decisions were taken at the 2017
Combined Policy Meetings on Admissions into
Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria which ended on
Tuesday, August 22.
Minimum cut-off marks for tertiary institutions
are:
– Universities were pegged at 120
– Polytechnics and colleges of education were
pegged at 100
– Innovative enterprising institutes was pegged
at 110
source: www.nijablog.com.ng