The controversy over JAMB’s cut-off marks

THE defence of the 120 cut-off mark for universities by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) does not hold water.

The JAMB boss stated that the UTME is a ranking exam and not a qualifying exam’. Does this mean that there is no pass or fail in the UTME?

You cannot compare a candidate who scored 140, which is 30 per cent, with another that scored 300, which is 75 per cent of 400 marks.

According to JAMB, “JAMB is a clearing house. That is why people are faking our results and for them, it’s a do-or-die affair. This is because we have created an unnecessary hurdle.”

But is not only JAMB results that people fake; they also fake O’level results.  The scope of malpractice in the examinations is alarming. There are centres where, apart from being provided with answers, candidates literally copy from textbooks.

Nowadays, there are several websites and other channels purporting to provide O’level examination questions to interested candidates before the exam (for a fee). I have not heard of UTME questions being leaked like that. JAMB has even further reduced malpractices in the UTME with the installation of CCTV cameras in CBT centres.

So, in fact, the UTME provides a far more reliable measure of academic prowess than the O’level exams. Malpractice has reached this alarming level because people see tertiary education as an end rather than a means to an end. Thus, the tertiary institutions keep churning out half-baked graduates who will only keep the unemployment rate high.

This class of graduates are not in the majority, but they are certainly a considerable proportion of the annual graduates. And that is alarming.

Adeyemi Ahmed,

Ilorin, Kwara State