JAMB crashes cut-off marks into varsities, others

Prof  Ishaq Oloyede

• Minister admits error in banning post-UTME

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) yesterday crashed the admission cut-off marks into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the country from 180 to as low as 120 and 100.

The Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who disclosed in Abuja during the Combined Policy Meeting on 2017 admissions, pegged the mininum score for degree programmes at 120, while that of polytechnics and colleges of education was put at 100.

Saying that tertiary institutions are at liberty to rejig the benchmarks subject to the decisions of their Senate and academic boards, Oloyede stressed that no institution was expected to go below the cut-off marks.

He said: “For degree-awarding institutions, the minimum JAMB score is 120, for polytechnics, it ranges between 100 and 180 and for colleges for education, is 100.”

The JAMB registrar said a Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) would be used to streamline admission processes among Institutions, while it addresses challenges associated with former approach.

Oloyede also said that institutions could conduct dual mode system which involves both manual and the new module. He advocated for a dynamic educational policy to facilitate admissions.

He continued: “All over the world, there is agitation for a dynamic educational policy. JAMB only admits for National Diploma not Higher National Diploma so why should we use the same requirement for ND and Bsc that is an unreasonable parity.

“We should not be sentimental in fixing our cut-off marks. We need not over-dramatise issue of cut-off marks.”Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, who presided over the meeting, admitted acting in error in last year when he placed a ban on the conduct of post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (Post-UTME) by tertiary education institutions in the country.

The minister, who disclosed that government has lifted the ban, stated that he was forced to take the erroneous decision based on the information made available to him and the way institutions were using it to exploit candidates.

His words: “At that time, it became an avenue for exploitation and a burden on many parents.”Adamu said institutions were now free to conduct the exercise, adding that its fee must not exceed N2000.

He said the 2016 admission process was a huge success, expressing optimism that government was working assiduously to make this year’s better.The minister noted that government was also making efforts to deepen access and revolutionise the sector. He expressed optimism that a substantial amount of candidates who sat for the 2017 UTME would gain admission into tertiary institutions.