The National Association of Nigerian Students, NAN, has reacted angrily to the decision of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, to reduce the cut-off marks for admission into tertiary institutions from 180 for universities and 165 for polytechnics, now 120 and 100 respectively for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
Read also: ASUU wants JAMB scrapped
In a statement signed by the organisation’s president, Chinonso Obasi, it said the decision would backfire on the country urging the examination body to revert to status quo.
It vowed to resist the decision from being implemented adding that the move would not serve the country’s deplorable educational standard any good.
The statement reads, “As critical stakeholders in the educational sector, NANS will vehemently resist the review and call on the government to maintain status quo and endeavour to conduct a comparative study and analysis of policies from other climes that support functional learning and production of young people that can compete with their peers globally.”
“Even with the current status, the general phenomenon is that Nigerian graduates are not employable. The lowering of standards will translate to a disastrous outcome in the future by churning out young people who cannot fit into the demands and expectations of the 21st century.
“Knowledge acquisition is a function of determination and hard work and so if over the years, students were able to work hard to meet cut off points, it doesn’t make any logical sense to now to lower the standard and insist that the inability of any student to meet the cut-off points is a function of outright indolence. It should not be encouraged.”
