The announcement of120 and 100 as cut-off marks for admission into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education has not gone down well with many in the education sector. JAMB insists it is to check quality and capital flight, report Kofoworola Belo-Osagie, Adegunle Olugbamila, Nicholas Kalu (Calabar), Damisi Ojo (Akure) and Frank Ikpefan (Abuja).
Since JAMB Registrar Prof Is-haq Oloyede announced 120 as cut-off mark for admission into universities, 100 for polytechnics/colleges of education, and 110 for Innovations Enterprise Institutions, there has been disquiet among school administrators, academics, parents, and students.
With 120 representing just 30 per cent of the possible 400 marks candidates can obtain in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), many stakeholders argue that it will condone underachievement and reduce standards in an education system that is battling quality issues.
Oloyede’s explanation that many of the candidates did not achieve the minimum cut-off of 180 that has been the benchmark for university admissions for years, and that institutions did not abide by it anyway, was not accepted as reasons enough to reduce score to 120.
In the 2017 UTME written by about 1.7 million candidates nationwide, only 569,395 (33.49 per cent) candidates scored over 200 marks. Conversely, only 23.8 per cent of the total scored below 160.
The Committee of Vice Chancellors (CVC), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), and student groups like the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), and the Education Rights Campaign are among many groups and individuals that have condemned the low cut-off.
Cut-off marks of schools
Many institutions have also come out to take a stand on their scores.
The University of Lagos (UNILAG) Registrar, Dr. Taiwo Ipaye, said in a text message to The Nation that the institution would not reduce its 200-minimum benchmark score.
“We have always maintained a minimum of 200 at the UTME. Full details on our website now please,” she said.
The Deputy Registrar, Information, Mr. Toyin Adebule, added that the institution would use 200 for its post-UTME screening which starts today.
“We open our portal for post-UTME registration on Thursday. We are maintaining our tradition of 200 and above,” he said, noting that the institution had never gone lower than 200 in admitting students for years.
The Lagos State University (LASU) on the other hand has pegged its score at 190 for this year’s admission. Its spokesperson, Martin Adekoya, said LASU had never circumvented standard, adding that every admission undertaken in the institution came through JAMB.
“LASU has always complied with JAMB admission criteria,” Adekoya told The Nation.
“This year, we pegged our admission at 190.
“Even though JAMB pegged the minimum at 120, don’t forget that there is also a proviso that granted university Senate the power to determine admission cut-off.
“Before, our minimum cut-off was 180 but, two years ago, it was moved to 190, and the idea is to checkmate the influx of students because we are committed to raising the quality of our studentship.
“As part of raising standard, I can tell you the Senate is considering using one sitting in WASSCE. This is already in use at our medical college. It is to ensure intending students coming to LASU prepare harder and the university can get the very best of the lot,” he said.
Though the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) said it was yet to decide the pass mark for admission into the institution, its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Sola Imoru, however, said it could never be the 120 announced by JAMB.
He said: “We are building a 21st century compliant university, which means we have some set standards that intending students will have to meet.
“We shall make our pass mark public as soon as we decide it, but it will be closer to the maximum than the minimum set by JAMB.
Imoru said the cut-off mark in previous years was 180.
A source at the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) said the standard cut-off mark for new students was between 180 and 200.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, Mrs. B.Olatuyi, said the new intake for degree courses must score 200, and their NCE counterparts 180.
The Bayero University, Kano (BUK) says it will stick to 180.
Its Director, Public Affairs, Malam Ahmad Shehu, said the university’s Senate pegged 180 as cut-off after a comprehensive evaluation of the minimum recommendation set by JAMB.
“What we have done in BUK is not in disagreement with what JAMB is requesting for, and don’t forget that 120 is just minimum and university has the authority to decide its minimum too.”
Shehu said courses like Hausa Language, English and others would not be stepped down below 180.
The University of Calabar (UNICAL) refused to comment on the matter. It was however gathered that the standard cut-off mark for admission into UNICAL and Cross River State University of Technology (CRUTECH), both in Cross River State, had been 180 and above.
Registrar of CRUTECH Gabriel Beshel said he was part of the meeting where the agreement was reached. He said the 120 cut-off mark was not a flat rate for all universities in the country, but only the lowest score any university could set to admit new students.
A source at the University of Abuja, who did not wish to be named, said though the university had set 180 as cut-off for years, very few candidates with such score got in because of the number of applicants.
The source said: “We have never gone below 180. It has always been the minimum that JAMB sets that we follow. But you see some departments like Medicine for instance they don’t accept anything less than 200. It is also the same but it is Medicine that I know that has always been strict.
“Most of these professional courses do raise their bar but they do not make it public. They only apply it when short listing. At the departmental level they will know that anybody who scored below 200 cannot go into Medicine or accounting but they don’t make it public.
“Normally, applicants who score less than a certain number that we know when they come seeking admission in our school we advise them that they cannot be taken in this department with this figure.
“Even with the 180, we cannot accommodate those that are applying to us. So what is the point going beyond that one?”
Lagos State Polytechnic Public Relations Officer Mr. Olanrewaju Kuye said the institution’s score for this year was 150, lower than previous years’.
“It is 150 this year. Last year, it was 180. Previous years, it was 160,” he said.
The Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED) is using 120 as admission score this year – which is 20 marks higher than the minimum for Colleges of Education.
Its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Odunayo Adebowale, said the college started using 120 since the 2015/1016 academic session because it struggled to fill admissions quota when it was 180/160 for colleges of education.
“Our cut-off mark for 2015/2016 was 160 and I also think the previous session was 180. However, along the line, we realised enrolment was crashing as less and less students were applying for admission into colleges of education. The management therefore had to approach JAMB and that was what birthed the 120 cut off which we are also using this year,” he said.
Stakeholders react
Former Education Minister Prof. Nora Obaji described the 120 cut-off as appalling. She said in an interview that it would hinder the growth of the education sector.
Mrs. Obaji, during whose tenure the post-UTME was introduced in 2006, said it was unacceptable for teacher colleges to accept students with only 25 per cent achievement in the examination.
She said, “If we, as a nation, are striving to improve on our developmental strides and be relevant among comity of nations, one thing we must learn to take seriously, then, should be our quality of education at all levels.
“Take for instance, our Colleges of Education, places that are supposed to train and produce future teachers that will teach at our primary education level; that should be the bedrock or foundation of learning, admitting people with 25 per cent obtained from an entrance examination.
“What quality are we anticipating to see from such teachers, and that is why I asked if what we need in this country is quantity rather than quality,” Obaji said.
She blamed administrators at the meeting for not rejecting the cut-off marks outright.
“I feel worried because it seemed the respective administrative heads of institutions present at that policy meeting could not say anything during such announcement to kick against the decision.
“I expected them to know better and speak out when such decision was reached, especially as we are in the era of democracy,” she said.
A Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Dr. Michael Ukonu. said the low cut-off would further weaken the education system.
“It is unfortunate, unbelievable and is possible to make someone cry”, he said.
Weekend editor of Nigerian Observer Newspaper Osazua Ivbaze said it was an opportunity for private universities to admit low-scoring students, praising the restoration of the post-UTME.
“It is a celebration time for private institutions because they always admit those with low scores, thus bringing down the standard of education. JAMB is now irrelevant, since they have given their responsibility to institutions. In fact, the reversed decision about having post-UTME is laudable, since there was nothing like JAMB before,” he said.
Education Rights Campaign, a civil society association that agitates for better quality public education, said the solution to the problem of poor performance was better funding of the sector.
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Hassan Soweto, the group, noted: “As far as we are concerned, there is no other way to increase the quality of students and their overall performance in qualifying examinations other than by improving quality of education and infrastructures in schools. This would require that government halts its anti-poor policies of education underfunding and commercialisation and immediately improve funding of education in order to address the acute shortfall in infrastructures and quality staff which is the bane of public education in the country. So long government continues to underfund public education, the quality of students will continue to worsen.”
A student of Ambrose Ali University (AAU), Ekpoma, Esu Okon, questioned JAMB’s rationale for taking such a decision.
“It is hard to imagine a prospective candidate who wants to opt for a professional course like Medicine or Law to proudly enter a higher institution with 120 and hope to be a scholar in the future,” he said.
A parent, who identified herself as Mrs. Boyo, said it would make students lazy.
Her words: “It is giving our children the leverage that they can enter school with 120 over 400 not even half of 400. It is like telling a child that he cannot pass exam and JAMB is saying our children are dullards.
“It is too degrading on our children. Schools will make more money and post UTME alone does not determine that a child is brilliant. JAMB is now regulating their responsibilities to schools and they will determine their qualification”.
Joseph Lucy, a student of University of Benin (UNIBEN), said it would have negative impact on students.
“Students will no longer read for their exam because they will feel 120 is a low mark that can easily be gotten even without reading. And if this is so, let those in power bring out their children from Nigeria institutions and you will find none and this is the reason they treat less privileged anyhow”, she said.
However, some do not think the policy is bad.
Supporting JAMB’s decision, Ogbebor Paul of AAU observed that the new directive would make things easier for prospective candidates to gain admission into higher institutions of their choice. “It is an opportunity for those who have been struggling for years to visit the four walls of a higher institution”, Paul said.
Ekoma Wisdom Osazie of Abia State University said it would favour students.
“If one should ask 80 per cent of youths at home, they will say it is because of JAMB. So many will be admitted but post-UTME will be tight”.
A candidate, Okeke Izuchukwu, said he was happy with the policy, especially with the return of the post-UTME as it would check candidates who wrote their WASSCE in special centres to get ahead in the admission process.
JAMB: It will check outflow of students to mushroom varsities abroad
JAMB’s Head of Information Dr. Fabian Benjamin told our reporter that in the past 10 years, many tertiary institutions hardly filled their available spaces.
He added that the need to go abroad to study was not caused by shortage of spaces or standards but partly due to unrealistic benchmarks.
He said the worst admitted cut-off mark in a Nigerian institution was better than allowing Nigerians to fly out to some of the institutions they were attending.
Dr. Fabian said: “Today it is a known fact that millions of Nigerians are out there schooling in mushroom institutions and they will at the end come back with all kinds of degree certificates that we cannot explain their content.
“The question we all should be concerned about is how to address the flight of Nigerians to glorified secondary schools called universities in Ghana, Uganda and even Gambia and others.
“How do we ensure that whatever we do has positive multiplier effects on other sectors of the economy? If we deny our candidates the opportunity to school in Nigeria they will find their way out, and in doing that deplete our economic base.
“To provide answers to all these challenges, stakeholders decided that institutions should be allowed to determine their cut-off marks according to their peculiarities and the quality and standard they want to be known for.
“Besides, events have shown that many institutions do not comply with cut-off marks in the past, hence, the flood of requests for regularisation. Now the new management has resolved to stop it and ensure full compliance with resolutions on cut-off marks.
“The Board will equally ensure that it correct all anomalies existing especially as regards the powers of institutions to make pronouncements on admissions and other related matters affecting the institutions.”
- Additional report by James Ojo and Ekpali Saint.
