JAMB’s new cut-off marks

THE recently announced cut-off points by the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, is yet another sore point in the nation’s university system. It is indeed very sad news for a sector that is already riddled with crisis. The claim that the decision was collectively made by all the key stakeholders in the sector merely begs the issue and amounts to a face-saving excuse following public outcry.

That a score of 120 out of 400 marks is now the cut-off point for universities while polytechnics and related institutions will make do with 100 marks is patently ridiculous. It amounts to a calculated attempt to further lower standards and make a mockery of university education in the country. The declarations by many of the university authorities unequivocally disowning the decision amply attest to the sheer misadventure and apparent loss of direction by JAMB this time around. Had they protested in a subdued tone, it could have been said that the university authorities were only being hypocritical after being a party to such a ridiculous decision. But it is a well-known fact that most of the big universities do not accept less than 200 marks out of the total 400 marks. Why should other societies take Nigeria and Nigerians serious if conscious efforts are constantly being made to demean the status of the nation’s university system and the quality of its products?

To underscore the unpopularity of the new cut-off marks, the matter has been generating reactions from major stakeholders, not only from the university community but also from the larger society. By implication, with the cut-off marks, polytechnics are now being asked to admit students with 25 per cent score, while universities are being asked to admit students with 30 per cent. If the intention is to give room for as many applicants as possible to gain admission into the nation’s higher institutions, it is not a noble one. It is tantamount to turning logic on its head. It seeks to institutionise laziness at the expense of industry, hard work and brilliance.  We are unimpressed by the argument that admitting students with 30 per cent score in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) into the nation’s universities will check capital flight. It is better for underperforming students to continue opting for foreign varsities than for Nigerian universities to lower their standards and admit unworthy candidates. Things are bad already and do not need to be made worse.

University education is global, and Nigeria cannot operate in isolation. It cannot defy global standards, practices and traditions without serious repercussions. Whereas there is a need for access to university education for the teeming Nigerian youths, JAMB should not encourage policies meant to lower standards and debase the quality of education in the country. Oloyede needs to unmask those stakeholders he claimed set the bar so low. They could not have meant well for the education sector in Nigeria and they certainly did not take the global rating of Nigerian universities into consideration. It will be suicidal for any university that cherishes and values quality and high standards to descend into the mediocrity exemplified by the so-called cut-off marks for this year’s admission.

With the official decision to demean and undermine varsity and polytechnic admission, nobody can now complain that Nigerian graduates are not globally competitive. After all, the government has said that those with 30 per cent pass can be admitted to universities. It is heartwarming that many universities have gone beyond disowning the weird cut-off mark by enunciating their intention to stick to the time-tested mechanism that has worked for them. The announcement by JAMB is not only retrogressive, reprehensible and annoying, it also constitutes a deliberate attempt to take higher education backwards by many decades.