Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar Is-haq Oloyede yesterday stressed the need to allow tertiary institutions to decide their cut-off marks.
He argued that a situation where universities, polytechnics and colleges of education are subjected to the same cut-off marks was no longer tenable because it prevents the institutions from admitting candidates of their choice.
Prof. Oloyede, in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its Head of Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, noted that institutions should be allowed to determine the kind of candidates they want to admit.
“The uniformity of cut-of marks doesn’t make any sense when colleges and polytechnics admit for National Certificate of Education (NCE) and diplomas while universities admit for degrees yet we subject them to the same cut-off marks, thereby starving these tier of institutions from admitting candidates, who if not engage may likely become easy prey to social vices.
“This means that if a university want 250 as minimum cut-off marks, why not and if another want less so is it. If a polytechnic like Yaba Tech wants 250 as cut-off marks, let them admit and if Gboko Polytechnic in Benue State, where I come from want less than 200, let them admit.
“Institutions should be known for their individual quality and not collective standard. This will foster positive competition for the overall good of our tertiary institutions,” he said in the statement.
He expressed worry over the class opportunities as it affects the distribution of admission resources.
Prof. Oloyede said he was deeply concerned over the fact that most policies were geared towards accommodating the interest of the elite only and leaving the children of the poor to suffer unjustly.
“The rich have multiple opportunities which include going abroad for studies while the poor only have the opportunity of struggling for the scarce spaces here,” he said.
THE NATION
