JAMB Cut-Off Mark Promoting Mediocrity, Says Expert

BY DUSTAN AGHEDO, Lagos
As mixed reactions continue to trail the recently announced Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) cut-off mark at 160 for admission into the 2019/2020 university academic calendar, education expert has slammed the move, saying it doesn’t encourage excellence and promote mediocrity in nation’s education sector.
The educator and CEO STEAM Empowerment Foundation (SEF), Mrs. Olabisi Ozo-Onyali said such move by JAMB is discouraging and will not inspire competition amongst, candidates and students.
Speaking in a chat with LEADERSh¡p, Ozo-Onyali said, “Sincerely speaking it is very sad and discouraging, and will not in any way encourage excellence in the society, nor encourage our children to aspire to be the best or compete globally.
“Everybody should not have to go to a university but if you must go then you must be willing to read and give it all it takes, because it is even more competitive in the different universities that they go to; so JAMB should prepare them for that, not reduce the cut-off.”
Also speaking, highest scorer at this year’s JAMB examination, Ekene Franklin Ezeunala said the cut-off was too low, saying the examination body may be trying to give some candidates the benefit of the doubt.
“I know that in their board meetings they must have considered a lot of factors which I may not be aware of but I feel 160 cut-off mark is a little bit too low,” Ezeunala said.