The current state of education in Nigeria has driven diverse resuscitation thoughts from citizens, the government both at local, state and federal levels as well as from education scholars alike. A very recent suggestion from a Nigerian University Professor, has proposed that an increased cut off mark for education courses in all Nigerian Universities and colleges of education will increase the quality of learning outcomes in the Nigeria education system. How well does this idea go with yours? But just before you comment;

here are some education research projects on students academic performances and possible causes

Education courses in Nigeria grossly, offer the lowest cut off marks for candidates seeking admission into Colleges of education and Universities. Infact, if you’re tired of writing JAMB tests over and over for your course of choice, a short cut to getting in is applying for any education course from where you could apply for a change of course. In effect, there are possibilities that we have more of admission desperadoes than teacher trainees in the education faculties of Nigerian tertiary institutions. The judgment is still yours to make.

The Registrar of University of Ibadan, who also doubles as the Chief Executive of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Thursday, proposed to JAMB on behalf of TRCN to increase the cut off marks for education courses across the Nation during his inaugural lecture at the University of Ibadan. He listed a couple of reasons, notable among them were that;

• Should cut off marks be increased for education courses, admission into education faculties will be stricter

• Only the best gets into the teaching career

These reasons are quite candid and feasible. There are other factors however, that seems to be left out.

First, thousands of candidates write JAMB examinations yearly and only few are chosen. Funny enough, among the few are candidates who didn’t even make it to the cut off mark but for some familiarity reasons, they make their way in while some of the overqualified candidates are left to rewrite the next year.

When such cases abound, why won’t candidates device a cheap way of getting into the educational system especially those from overly poor financial background, lacking money enough to sponsor their way in like some rich folks do. The consequence, we have more students with loss of interest in their profession, the regular crowd in education faculties is a vivid example. So why pleading with JAMB to increase cut off marks, TRCN should also plead with Universities’ admission panel to be in their best behavior so that admissions are given on merit indeed not just in paper.

Secondly, it’s not just about admitting the best, it’s more about graduating the best. The teachers' training policy should be necessarily reviewed to includ conditions on which teacher trainees should be graduated as full-fledged professional teachers. As development trails, teaching approaches advance too; so does the demands of new teaching adaptation emerge just like learning needs keep increasing and diversifying.

Thirdly, private schools habitually go for underpaid teachers who most of the times are not even trained teachers. Teaching is very lucrative for an average Nigerian graduate who can’t easily get a white collar job. If the learning outcomes turn bad, blame it on the educational system? There are obviously too many factors that influence the quality of education in Nigeria too numerous to be cited alone.

At this point, you should make your own contribution on this matter as it concerns you.