JAMB drops its cut-off point

The news is that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has dropped the idea of suggesting its own cut-off point which used to serve as the minimum below which no candidate could be admitted into a Nigerian tertiary institution.

Recently re-appointed JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, announced that though tertiary institutions would still use JAMB’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination scores, they could independently determine the cut-off point acceptable to them.

By the way, Oloyede is a model public servant that the Yoruba would describe as “A wo ko se,” he that should be emulated. His exemplary performance as JAMB Registrar has been sterling and should be recommended for others to copy.

Following is the arduous journey that JAMB and Oloyede had to travel before yielding their high ground to endure the mediocrity that pervades in this country that Western Nigeria’s first Premier, Obafemi Awolowo, once described as a mere geographical expression.

In 2017, JAMB set cut-off points for universities, monotechnics and polytechnics/colleges of education at 120, 110 and 100 respectively. Some universities howled that that was too low for them, and then set their cut-off point between 160 and 200.

You May also like:

In 2019, JAMB raised the cut-off points for universities and polytechnics to a higher 140 and 100 respectively. There were some whimpers that didn’t exactly show preference for or against the decision. Nigeria is surfeit with duplicitous people who say what they don’t mean.

To debunk accusations that JAMB was deliberately lowering cut-off points to favour candidates from educationally-disadvantaged states, most of which are in Northern Nigeria, JAMB’s Public Relations Officer, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, was compelled to offer a laboured defence.

He took time to explain: “For instance, the cut-off mark for medicine in Obafemi Awolowo University (in Southern Nigeria) is 200, but that of Bayero University, Kano (in Northern Nigeria), is 250.”

He protested: “It will be wrong for anybody to say that the cut-off point for an examination that is conducted for candidates determines the standard of education. Contrary to the complaints of some stakeholders, JAMB does not compel higher institutions to admit candidates with the seemingly ridiculous (sic) cut-off mark.”

You May also like:

He further explained, “It was only agreed by stakeholders to provide institutions with benchmark (that) universities could raise the marks above 140, but not more than 200.”

Despite this explanation, Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai, still protested what he interprets as (JAMB’s unnecessary) preferential treatment for Northern Nigerian candidates.

El-Rufai observes, “The North has always been behind (the South) in education. We’ve continuously been (a) disadvantaged region right from Independence, even though we’re given preferences, JAMB scores and all that. That has not helped. In fact, it has made our people lazy.” JAMB refuted the allegation.

But maybe after seeing through the crocodile tears, and observing that some tertiary institutions bypassed the Central Admissions Processing System, headlined by the UTME, JAMB decided not to suggest a benchmark, but allow tertiary institutions to determine their own admissions cut-off points, however low.

Accordingly, two universities that are based in Lagos – Pan-Atlantic University, with the highest cut-off point of 210, followed by University of Lagos, with 200 points – are leading the pack with high cut-off points. About eight universities together took the rear with a cut-off point of 120.

Note that the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, is encouraging universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, both privately-owned and publicly-owned, to demand the National Identification Number that JAMB adopted to complement biometric data requirements in order to easily fish out those who want to compromise the results.

During JAMB’s 2021 virtual policy meeting, held under the chairmanship of the minister, Oloyede announced that “Institutions (of higher learning) have (now) been given the liberty to decide (their) cut-off marks: There will be no (JAMB suggested) cut-off mark for examinations.”

You May also like:

In case this decision rankled those who think JAMB should always set a benchmark below which no candidate should be admitted into a tertiary institution, the exam body provided a table that shows the correlation of its UTME scores and the post-UTME scores of some candidates seeking admission to University of Ibadan.

The leading five candidates for UI Medical School had the following UTME and post-UTME scores, namely: 43:40; 42:40.5; 42.5:39.5; 40.75:41; and 41.63:40 respectively. For those seeking admission to study civil engineering in the same university, the scores are, namely: 40.63:39.5; 38.38:40; 40.63:36; 40.75:34.5; and 39.25:34.5.

It also strengthens the argument that maybe JAMB should reconsider its position and continue to provide a minimum cut-off point below which students should not be admitted into Nigeria’s tertiary institutions. After all, the stated purpose of JAMB is “admission into tertiary institutions.”

Indeed, the legal instrument establishing JAMB empowers it to: conduct Matriculation Examination for entry into all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in Nigeria; and place suitably qualified candidates in the tertiary institutions.

You May also like:

At a recent conference of World Journalism Education Congress at the University of Lagos, Prof Lai Oso, of the Lagos State University School of Communication, observed that many students admitted into tertiary institutions have very poor academic foundation and could not perform well after their admission.

If the students cannot even manage simple grammatical constructions in English language, Nigeria’s lingua franca and language of instructions of the school system, they cannot be expected to learn anything.

Some have argued that JAMB is an examination and not an admissions agency. That may be true. But its examinations should count for something as a gatekeeper of sorts, considering the testimonial of Alex Ekwueme Federal University and JAMB’s own report.

In the days before JAMB, only students with at least “E” grade in at least two subjects from a score of A to E, in the Higher School Certificate Examination could obtain admission into a Nigerian university.

An “O,” or Ordinary Level pass, was considered a WASCE score, and could not be considered for admission into the university. No tertiary institution would touch such a candidate with even a 10-foot admission pole.

Related Posts: JAMB

519

JAMB drops its cut-off point

Related posts

Leave a Comment Cancel reply