I received the news about the decision of the Joint Admission And Matriculation Board (JAMB) to reduce the cut-off mark for candidates seeking admission into Nigerian Universities for degree programmes in the 2015/2016 academic session from 200 to 180 out of a possible 400 marks with some measure of puzzlement and amazement. I tried to find out what could have informed such a decision but could not really get any plausible explanation from all the news I read or heard. What is certain is that from October this year or thereabout when the next academic session would commence, schools are required to implement the new rule with regard to the admission of students. One can only assume that the officials of JAMB were convinced that they were taking the right step to help majority of University hopefuls whose hopes are dashed perennially having failed to make the previous pass mark of 200. I unequivocally disagree with this point of view. In fact I believe the education sector has just suffered a setback.
The increase in the failure rate in both the JAMB and WAEC examinations over the years most certainly calls for concern as well as a long lasting solution. An analysis of the results of the 2014 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) shows that out of the 990,179 candidates who applied for the Pencil-Paper Test (PPT), 828,296 of them scored less than 200 which translates to about 83 percent failure rate! The 2013 examinations were even worse as they were marred by widespread cheating in many centers. Fake answers were distributed to desperate candidates by scammers. Teachers, invigilators and even parents assisted candidates to cheat thereby resulting in mass failure, hence the introduction of the Computer Based Test, CBT in the 2015 examinations which has so far reportedly helped to reduce the incidence of examination fraud.
However, when a gathering of Professors and “learned fellows” adjudge that the only way to better the lot of prospective undergraduates is by scaling down the pass mark into higher institutions, one cannot help but wonder what they hope to achieve and if they stopped to consider the long term implication of their decision. The Nigerian education system is in troubled waters no doubt, but lowering standards in the name of increasing candidates’ chances gaining admission into higher institutions is not the way to go in reviving an ailing sector. The resolution reached may result in more candidates making the cut-off mark and eventually securing admission into a higher institution of learning, but it wi