From MAGNUS EZE, Abuja
The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has continued to receive knocks over its decision to peg admission cut off marks at 120 and 100 for universities and polytechnics respectively.
Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) today faulted the recent cut off point announced by JAMB, describing it as an embarrassment to the nation’s educational system.
National President of ASUP, Comrade Usman Dutse who made the position of the union known in Abuja, said they totally reject the benchmark.
The cut-off point, as announced by the regulator represents 25 per cent of the examination marks of 400, according to him, and represents failure anywhere in the world.
Dutse enjoined stakeholders not to encourage such a retrogressive decision; wondering why JAMB did not consult other stakeholders for inputs if it wanted to review the cut-off points, rather than unilaterally fixing such a ridiculous figure for an exam that should test students’ capabilities.
“We don’t actually know what JAMB wants to achieve with that decision but as a major stakeholder, all we know is that 100 and120 as a cut-off points are too low. I believe in any global standard examination rating, 25 per cent is failure because 100 and 120 are more of 25 per cent of the exam which as I said earlier that is failure. So using that as a benchmark standard is degrading and the effect would be that quality would be eroded,” ASUP said.