Barely two months after Nazeer Usman Kokoshe tweeted at president Buhari to reduce the cut-off mark for the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) exam, his request was granted, and even surpassed. On Tuesday, 14th July 2015, Professor Dibu Ojerinde, registrar of the board, announced a 10 per cent drop in the cut-off mark for universities, from 200 to 180, and a minimum score of 150 for polytechnics and colleges of education. An announcement made at the end of the 2015 combined policy meeting on admissions, held in the nations capital, Abuja.
we hope new president Muhammad Buhari he can pity students to decreasing Mark jamb 5% please help @mbuhari @atiku @daily_trust @wamakkoaliyu
— Nazeer Usman Kokoshe (@nazer_usman) May 20, 2015
The tweet got the attention of Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who was also mentioned, but he was not in support. His reply to Nazeer got a good number of retweets from Nigerians who were also not in support of the request.
Dear @nazer_usman, I don’t think should drop standards. Better we improve quality of education, so students can pass https://t.co/lweCSOXssu — Atiku Abubakar (@atiku) May 21, 2015
Failure rates in schools is not because the exams are tougher. It’s because the quality of education has dropped. We must fix education.
— Atiku Abubakar (@atiku) May 21, 2015
It is therefore no surprise that the recent announcement made by JAMB has sparked a nationwide controversy on the future of Nigeria’s educational system. Just as General Abubakar highlighted in his tweet above, the nations’s educational sector is quite a mess, and this accounts for the large number of Nigerians that seek foreign education. It has to be fixed. The question now is this; is JAMB’s latest decision a step backward or forward? As with almost everything, Nigerians have taken to social media platforms to vent.
I just heard JAMB’s cut-off marks were reduced to 180 for Univs & 150 for Poly & Colleges of Education. Our educational system on decline? — Adedamola Damben (@damben1) July 14, 2015
Reducing the JAMB cut off mark only proves that our educational system is wack and we don’t even want to work on getting better. — Kay Baba (@datGuyKOFO) July 14, 2015
Back in my days, 200 wasn’t enough guarantee that you would gain admission into a University. You must score above 200. What now happened? — Adedamola Damben (@damben1) July 14, 2015
The fact that JAMB cut off mark is below 200 is an acceptance of mediocrity & low standards in our Country… 200 should be the cut off. — B (@bbellgam) July 14, 2015
Jamb Cut off mark is Now 180, Education is now easy, we can now spend more time on twitter,Instagram,Facebook and read less. — JAGABAN. (@UNCLE_AJALA) July 15, 2015
Some Nigerians have said that the board made the new decision to boost their relevance, since that has been in question, owing to the fact that students still have to sit for university entrance examination – post UME – after taking JAMB. These set of people are of the opinion that the board is useless, and should therefore be scrapped, especially after their announcement on Tuesday.
JAMB Cutoff is 180? Why bother with that board again? Let every sch organize its own entrance exams jare
— ♜’Seyifunmi♜ (@Im_a_MARVEL) July 15, 2015
I concur “@Mr_temitope: I think JAMB should be scrapped since Post-Ume(s) conducted by university have come to stay.” — MR JODELA (@JOBANNG) October 9, 2014
@RC1023FM JAMB should be scrapped, so that each school can admit based on its criteria. JAMB is a waste of time and resources — Debo (@Najim175) July 15, 2015
A few Nigerians are however in support of the boards decision; Alero, a 26 year old photographer said, “students will only face the challenge of passing post-UME, since they will easily pass JAMB’s new cut-off mark. Just one mountain to climb, as opposed to two.” Though it is not clear whether or not Nazeers tweet triggered the boards new policy, the young lad must definitely be ecstatic with the news.
