The House of Reps has mandated its Committee on Tertiary Education & Services to look into the circumstances surrounding the reduction of cut-off mark for admitting candidates into tertiary institutions. 

This followed a motion by Rep. Hassan Saleh (Benue-APC) on the “Need to Investigate the Reduction in the Cut-off Marks for Admissions into Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria’’ at plenary on Tuesday.

The committee projected to report back findings within 4 weeks, was directed to determine whether the cut-off mark reduction would lower the standard of education in Nigeria.

Moving the motion, Saleh expressed concern that the new policy was bound to lower the standard & quality of education from the tertiary institutions.

According to him, many candidates who perform poorly in Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UMTE) can secure admission through nepotism, bribery & corruption while many other candidates who perform excellently can be denied admission.

Saleh said that in spite of the fact that more than 500,000 candidates scored more than 200 marks, representing 50% of the total mark, Joint Admissions & Matriculation Board (JAMB) reduced cut-off mark to 120.

He said that the cut-off mark represented only 30% of the total examination mark of 400, adding that 100 marks fixed for Polytechnics & Colleges of Education was 25% of the total mark.

In his contribution, Rep. Ahmed Pategi (Kwara-APC) disagreed with the motion, saying that the decision taken by JAMB was in order.

Pategi said that all stakeholders in tertiary education were in agreement with JAMB on the new policy.

He added that it was unfair to deny a child admission into higher institution simply on his/her UTME score even after 11 years of basic education & possession of five credits, including in English Language & Mathematics.

Other lawmakers supported the motion & called for a U-turn of the policy, saying universities were supposed to be centers of excellence for learning, therefore the need to always admit the best candidates.

According to them, it’ll be in order to produce graduates that can compete favorably with their peers anywhere in the World.

Rep. Afe Oluwookere (Ondo-APC) described the new policy as “highly detrimental’’ to the country’s push for economic growth & development.

On their parts, Reps. Henry Archibong, Rita Orji & Abubakar Chika called for the scraping of JAMB & the UTME.

They stated that lowering cut-off marks for admission into tertiary institutions was a signal that the Board had outlived its usefulness.

The lawmakers also accused JAMB of buckling under pressure from privately owned universities, many of whom were seeking to increase the number of yearly admissions into their schools.

Rep. Abubakar Chika (Niger-APC), a former lecturer at the Polytechnic, said it was highly disappointing that JAMB could succumb to pressure from private institutions, which he alleged had long pushed for cut-off marks to be lowered.

“Let me even open up, this decision was taken because of private universities. They usually need to admit the children of the rich, who are not ready to work hard,’’ he said.

Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, announced that a minimum of 120 marks in the UTME would be required for placement of candidates into universities, while one hundred marks were needed for placement into Polytechnics or Colleges of Education.

The announcement followed the August 22 policy meeting between JAMB, heads of tertiary institutions & other stakeholders, on modalities for the conduct of admissions into tertiary institutions for the 2017/2018 academic session. (NAN)