At the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, national policy meeting held in Abuja on July 21, 22, it was agreed by the stakeholders that 140/400 should be a minimum mark for a candidate seeking entry into a university; 120/400 for polytechnics and 100/400 for college of education respectively, which is the globallly accepted standard. Setting those marks showcases the murky state of this country’s education currently.
We all know the kismet in such a situation like this. How long are we going to be promoted from our “Developing” name given to us as the giant of Africa to a developed one? Why is it that we cannot set standard for our higher institutions of learning and invest our last card on education and the youths who will use their inbuilt skill together with their educational knowledge to garner technological innovation as nordic countries?
The disparity in the pass mark has created an underneath crisis for years which is supposed to have been resolved. This decision has created problem for the young graduates seeking employment in the labour market. Students of polytechnics and colleges of education students feel inferior – even though, the holabaloo on HND/ BSc dichotomy has been doused by the National Assembly but it still persists. And the onset of the problem can be traced to a moment like this when JAMB pegged the minimum mark for admission into the various tertiary institutions.
And it is quite unfortunate that, the stakeholders indulge in this kind of conundrum.That is why some people are clamouring for upgrading of their local communities colleges and polytechnics into universities for none of the candidates wishes to go to either college of education or polytechnic and if these occurs, then the aim and objectives behind establishing colleges of education and polytechnics will not achieved. If the sort of treatment given to universities is extended to polytechnics, unnecessary tension would not have arisen. The evidence of such tension could be traced to the recent conversion of LASPOTECH and Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education to universities by the Governor of Lagos state Babajide Sanwolu, which has now been effected.
According to University World news, in 2014 at the meeting of colleges and universities leaders of the Chinese Development Forum, the Vice Minister for Education Lu Xin announced their decision to convert many of their degree-awarding institutions to polytechnics to focus more on technical and vocational training. So, the annual pass marks that JAMB announces for the polytechnics have created a certain impression on the candidates and members of the public about the technical institutions.
The last time we had a reasonable cut off marks was 2014 during the era of Paper Pencil Test (PPT) until 2015 when JAMB introduced Computer Based Test (CBT), to allay the possible fear of not gaining admission and based on the level of performance of the candidates in the newly introduced mode of writing JAMB examination, thus the pass mark was cut down to 180/400 for universities from their previous 200/400 though, some conventional universities like Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, University of Ibadan (UI), University of Nigeria (UNN) Nsuka, University of Benin (UNIBEN) maintained their standard which they are still maintaining. And also in 2016 when this current JAMB registrar Isiaq Oloyede was appointed nothing changed even post-JAMB examination that tertiary schools do conduct to screen their applicants was scrapped by the Minister of Education Malam Adamu Adamu.
2016 downward, the pass mark grid continue to go down and down. Unknowingly, the inability to set a standard has stifled the spirit of seriousness on the part of candidates towards study, who only read to get a sole mark needed to get admission. The result of our failure and the disappearance of zeal to read by the candidates could be traced to mass failure in JAMB, especially in the last two years.
Take a look at the percentage of the candidates who scored 200 and above in this year’s JAMB nobody will tell you that something is wrong. Actually, the stakeholders do examine the number of candidates who got a particular score before they proclaim their cut-off mark for a certain session and based on the available quota system in various schools. But that should not prevent the stakeholders to do justice so as not make university a do-or-die for the candidates to the detriment of other institutions of learning. And also there is a necessity for us to go back to the drawing board to review the university pass mark because 35% is not okay for nstitutions of learning we term an ivory tower.
Jimoh Abdullahi,
Ibadan, Oyo state.
