The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has on Tuesday cancelled general cut-off marks for admission into tertiary institutions, giving schools the right to decide their individual minimum benchmarks for admission.
According to Punch, the examination board took the decision at the virtual 2021 policy meeting, chaired by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, disclosing the decision said: “Some universities such as the University of Maiduguri, proposed 150; Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, proposed 140; Pan Atlantic University proposed 210; University of Lagos 200; Lagos State University, 190; Covenant University 190; and Bayero University, Kano, 180.
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“Institutions have now been given the liberty to decide cut-off marks; there will be no cut-off marks [stipulation] from JAMB.”
During the meeting, stakeholders delved into other matters relating to admission into higher institutions.
The report stated that the stakeholders resolved to allow the education ministry to decide on the deadline for the closure of admissions, as they could not agree on the December 31, 2021 deadline for all public institutions and January 31, 2022 for all private institutions.
Stakeholders also adopted the 2021 admission guidelines, which provide that all applications for part-time or full-time programmes for degrees, NCE, OND, and others must be posted only through JAMB.
The meeting approved that, for Direct Entry, the maximum score a candidate could present is six and the minimum is two or an E, as required by law.
These decisions mark a significant shift from what have characterized the admission process in Nigeria for ages, paving way for admission practice that will be at par with what is obtainable in other countries.
Long before now, reform advocates have called on Nigeria’s education authorities to initiate a swiffer process for admission into tertiary institutions, which involves scraping JAMB that has been described by many as a “revenue making scheme.”
Compared to many other countries where senior school examination is the only requirement for admission into college, Nigerian students seeking admission into tertiary institutions have had to pay more in time and resources. Many have had to wait for years in search of cut off marks for their desired courses, and when they got it, they got denied admission for not meeting Post-Jamb, (a further test taken after JAMB) cut off marks.
The tedious process fueled the federal government’s decision to scrap Post-JAMB in 2016.
“Our universities shouldn’t be conducting another examination; if they have any complaint against JAMB, they should come to the Ministry of Education and we will look into it,” Adamu said. “If JAMB is qualified to conduct the computer-based test and they are conducting the test, then there should be no need for students to sit another examination to get admission.”
However, the argument over JAMB’s right to set cut off marks remained since 2016, as schools pushed for the liberty to make the decisions. While the examination board’s Tuesday’s decision has put an end to the clamor, the call to scrap JAMB itself remains a decision to be made another day.