From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Stakeholders in the tertiary education system have continued to react to the recent pronouncement and rules set by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for 2017/2018 admission.
While some stakeholders commended JAMB and Ministers of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu and Prof. AnthonyAnwukah for the decision, others registered their discontent and criticized the new admission guidelines.
At the 2017 combined policy meeting held in Abuja recently, the Minister of Education apologized to the institutions for the decision he took last year to abolish the post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (Post-UTME), stating that he was ill advised to take that decision.
He therefore instructed the schools to reactivate the exam but for a fee not more than N2, 000 placed on each candidate.
Shortly after he left the podium, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede after an extensive and heated debate and collation of inputs from the representatives of the institution, announced the new cut off marks for 2017 admission into tertiary institutions. They pegged 120 marks out of 400 total for universities, and 100 marks for polytechnics and colleges of education.
The decision generated wide criticism and divided opinions from education stakeholders, students, parents and other Nigerians both in social and main stream media. This was as JAMB spokesman, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, insisted that the cut off marks were never the exclusive decision of JAMB but of all tertiary institutions who were duly represented at the meeting.
President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Chinonso Obasi, in his reaction described the new cut-off marks as an “eyesore”, highlighting the devastating effect it would have on the Nigerian education system.
He added: “The new admission rules particularly the cut off marks were discouraging. The implication is that students would no longer “burn candles” or keep vigil studying to score high marks in JAMB. Also, the desire and quest for excellent academic performance will drop drastically. We suggest a review to rescue our education system from decadence.
“Hitherto, 180 point which is little above 40 percent was the cut-off mark and the universities were never better academically for it. Bringing it down to 120 (around 30 percent) will worsen the situation and would simply encourage mediocrity. The decision must be reversed in the best interest of our education system.”
On the contrary, the Chancellor, Gregory University in Abia State, Dr. Gregory Ibe, commended JAMB and the ministry of education for such a change which he said was long overdue.
He added: “It is worrisome that before now, millions of students were denied admission opportunities because they could not score certain mark in JAMB. But further enquiries would reveal that these students have performed excellently well in their O’level exams.”
He was happy that Nigeria’s education managers have realized the importance of following the part of developed countries that have built a formidable education foundation for their unborn generations. “Unfortunately, institutions in these developed countries only request for your O’level result to secure admissions,” he said.
He added that the decision has become imperative because JAMB and the National Universities Commission (NUC) are facing serious threat from foreign universities. These foreign universities, he said, entice Nigerian students with good offers and less stress in gaining admission.
Meanwhile, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of Abuja, Dr. Abubakar Kari, believes that JAMB and other officials that chose the cut off marks were ill advised and misguided to arrive at such decision.
Kari was convinced that the decision would have a devastating effect on the quality of education in Nigeria, suggesting that JAMB reconsider the decision and either maintain the earlier cut off point or raise it to a reasonable point.
He said cut-off marks must be higher than 120 so that students could be encouraged to study hard to pass their exam. “At the end, they would understand that universities were meant for serious people and not otherwise.
“We are already contending with mediocrity in the university system and we cannot afford to have more. Slashing the cut-off point would obviously encourage academic laziness among the students. But our saving grace would be the reintroduced post-UTME screening through which we would weed out unqualified candidates.
A parent and educationist, Mrs. Isioma Idaboh, supports JAMB’s decision and the confidence of the Registrar to slash the cut-off marks in spite of the anticipated criticisms.
She was optimistic that such will open more opportunity for students to legitimately gain admission into tertiary institutions instead of the present “under the table” admission by school managements.