By Our Reporters
The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and other statutory stakeholders in the tertiary institution system have fixed cut-off mark for admission into Nigerian universities at 140 out of a possible 400 marks for admission purposes in the 2022/2023 academic session.
However, educationists and other Nigerians have lamented the development saying it dis-incentivises hard work, encourages and rewards laziness, mediocrity and ultimately contributes to the falling standard of education and erodes the quality of graduates churned out of public universities in the country.
The stakeholders, including vice chancellors and other heads of tertiary institution also pegged the minimum cut-off mark for polytechnics and colleges of education at 100 on Thursday, 21 July 2022 at a policy meeting on admissions into tertiary institutions in Abuja, chaired by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu.
Also at the meeting, Adamu disclosed that JAMB had so far remitted about N29 billion directly to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
Registrar JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede announced the cut-off marks, he claimed were arrived at after “a thorough debate” and votes by vice chancellors of universities, rectors of polytechnics and provosts of colleges of education.
Oloyede said: “Every institution has the right to fix its own cut-off mark even up to 220 but no one would be allowed to go less than the agreed minimum marks of 100 for colleges of education, 100 for polytechnics and 140 for universities.”
In another decision declaimed by academics and other stakeholders in the education sector who argue that it is capable of being corruptly exploited by the beneficiaries, Prof. Oloyede announced that the meeting also called for the review of admission criteria to give 10 per cent discretional power of admission to heads of tertiary institutions, that is vice chancellors of universities, rectors of polytechnics and provosts of colleges of education.
Over 1.7 million candidates sat for the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) examination nationwide out of whom Oloyede disclosed 378,639 scored 200 and above. He added that 520,596 candidates scored 190 and above; 704,991 scored 180 and above; 934,103 scored 170 and above; and 1,192, 057 scored 160 and above.
Oloyede disclosed the names of the best performed students in the Computer-Based Test (CBT) as follows: Master Adebayo Eyimofe (Ekiti State) scored the highest mark of 362; Ugwu Chikelu, an indigene of (Enugu State) 359 marks. Eight others two trailed the first two candidates and their marks were given as: Igbalaye Ebunoluwa 357; Emmanuel Oluwanifemi 357; Ozumba Samuel 357; Olumide-Attah Ayomide 355; Lawal Olaoluwa 355; Dokun Jubril 354; Amaku Anthony 354 and Aghulor Divine 353.
But in reaction, stakeholders in the sector slammed JAMB and other stakeholders who fixed the cut-off marks, stating that “their decision to peg cut-off marks below the threshold of 50 percent of total marks in the exam is a capitulation of their responsibility to set lofty ambition for the youth of this country.”
A lecturer in one of the public universities who pleaded anonymity observed: “I tell you what from the minister of education to all the vice chancellors and others who fix this F9 cut-off marks they are all responsible for the fallen standards of education in this country.
“A student who cannot score 50 per cent on any university admission examination does not deserve any place here. That is a no brainer to me, to any educated mind! I mean was that the ridiculous standards set for University College, Ibadan in 1948 when it was founded? Was that the cut-off standards for admission at UNN, Ife, UNILAG, ABU in the ‘60s or even UNILORIN in ’75? Was that the bottom-barrel score Oloyede himself and all the vice chancellors, professors mark you, obtained in their entrance examinations as freshmen? Why should anyone be serious about the UTME when you know 140 marks can get you a place in the university, with all the corruption associated with the admission process today in all universities?
“The vice chancellors and others dropped the standards to the bottom of the sea for pecuniary reasons. They want to milk as many students as possible for the post-UTME and also have the leeway to admit these misfits here whose rich parents would pay anything to get their unqualified wards admitted. The system is broken but as usual nobody cares.”
Another lecturer who does not also want her name in print told The Dream Daily Newspaper: “My brother I am tired! This is how they unleash illiterates on us as students in the university and expect us to perform magic.
“The admission process is a racket, a cesspit of corruption supervised by vice chancellors and registrar and non-academic staff members. They no longer respect the admission lists we give them from our departments and faculties, which we base on merit even if we consider other statutory input like catchment area and so on.
“The norm is to find low-scoring candidates’ names on the admission list now. I have given up. And because these students never got in on the merit of it, because they know they have backers in the system who would pressure and even blackmail you into upgrading them when they fail, most of the students we see today are lazy and uninterested in their studies. It is a race to the bottom now. All they want is the paper certificates. Only few are exceptionally interested in what you teach them. It is sad and personally I find it depressing because it sucks the joy, the fulfilment out of this job, this calling!”
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