For many young Nigerians, their first experience of premium shege probably starts when they sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), popularly known as JAMB.
As many of us know, this exam determines whether or not you scale through to a tertiary institution, and many midnight candles are burned trying to read and meet the minimum cut-off mark of 180 for universities and 150 for polytechnics and colleges of education.
However, with the latest development, on June 24, 2023, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) announced new cut-off marks set at 140 for universities and 100 for polytechnics and colleges of education.
What’s their reason for this?
Although JAMB has yet to state their reasons behind this, during a Policy Meeting on Admissions on June 24, presided over by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, JAMB’s registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, revealed that out of the 1,761,338 candidates who sat for the 2022 UTME, only 378,639 (21.5%) scored above 200, and about 520,596 (29.56%) scored 190 and above. With 48.97% scoring below 180.
However, Oloyede pointed out that universities can set their own cut-off marks. Still, they aren’t allowed to go under the newly agreed minimum marks of 140 for universities and 100 for polytechnics and colleges of education.
Nonetheless, this announcement has been met with many mixed reactions from young Nigerians, educators, and students.
Zikoko Citizen reached out to some of them, and they shared their thoughts.
What are people saying?
Yinka’s a teacher at a private secondary school in Lagos, and she believes that the new JAMB cut-off marks will affect our quality of education. “There’s no justifiable reason for what JAMB did. The quality of education has drastically dropped because of exam malpractice. We already see cases where university students are unable to write simple letters. And yet, admission cut-off marks are being further lowered, which shows that our level of education in Nigeria is gone. I’m not in support of it at all.”
According to the World Economic Forum (2017), Nigeria ranks 124th out of 137 countries in terms of primary education, and we’re also missing in the top ten education systems in Africa. A report by Businessday also revealed that the poor quality of tertiary education in Nigeria contributes to about 18% of yearly school dropouts.
OJ, who recently passed out of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme, shares the same sentiment as Yinka. According to them, “If people educated by the government are struggling to meet 1/4th of the cut-off mark, it’s telling of the shambles our educational system is in. Cutting down the cut-off mark won’t change that; the whole thing is a joke either way.” They add that the government might be taking the easy way out and should instead focus on making policies and reforms that would benefit our educational system.
But not all reactions are negative about the new cutoff mark, as some students are excited about this announcement. Victoria, who sat for the 2022 UTME, says she’s happy with the news as she believes it’ll benefit her. She had 195 in the last examination and thinks the new cut-off mark will increase her chances of getting into her preferred course.
On the other hand, some people, like Reggie, question the relevance of JAMB altogether. He says, “The West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and internal exams set by universities should be enough to screen prospective students. JAMB should be scrapped.”
