NIGERIA EDUCATION HEADING TOWARDS WATERLOO: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS ON THE EFFECT OF NEW ADMISSION CUT-OFF POINT SET BY JAMB ON THE NIGERIA TOMORROW BY ESAN OLUWATOBI

Although much have been said about the issue am about to talk on now, I have read various justifications for it, and I have come across a lot of people, institutions and independent bodies disagree and condemn this development, but then I will be talking from a more analytical and critical point of few with nothing to gain nor lose for any position I hold.
It is no longer news that the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) recently pegged down the entry point of tertiary institutions in Nigeria to 120 and 100 out of a possible 400 point respectively.

Of a truth I must say that Examination is not a true test for a candidate's intelligence but I believe that an intelligent person should be wise enough to stay relevant. If we claim a candidate is intelligence and such candidate is not intelligent enough to find a way of overcoming the stumbling block of an examination to remain relevant, then such intelligence should be questioned.
I am not insinuating that intelligence equates excellent examination performance, but intelligence should at least attain an average or near average to justify its relevance. A lot have argued that the new Jamb policy has given the power of admission into the hands the senate of each tertiary institution. This a quiet commendable, as it allows for individual tertiary institutions to set their standards and be solely responsible for the quality of intakes into their respective institutions. This is a great development in the academics, and JAMB should be commended for that. It will no longer be a case that the quality of Nigeria Undergraduates are bad but the quality of a school is bad, because if I as an institution claim to have a standard of admitting quality intakes that conforms to my standard and after years under my tutelage I produce a below standard graduate, it then means I as an institution which includes all staffs are below standards on the basis that I claim to admit a standard, so whatever drops their standard during their stay with me before I graduate them into the larger society is solely my responsibility.
However, despite the advantage this new standard offers, its disadvantages outweigh its advantages and if care is not taking, we will have nothing called quality graduates in the nation again, considering the 120 and 100 mark standard set by JAMB. The first thing JAMB failed to understand was that, they serve as the ultimately standard and point of reference for Nigeria institutions and if they lower their standard it will definitely have great effect on the nations Education because some institutions who are driven by the desire for Money and Quantity will go by such low standard having them as their point of reference and hence, quality will be a thing of the past in such institutions. However, JAMB might claim such institutions will bear the brunt alone for lack of quality but the question is, are those institutions graduate not been sent into the Nigerian society? Suffices to say that at the long run it affects the quality of the so called Nigerian graduate and by implication the quality in the nation.
Also, we must be aware of the fact that some states in the federation are enjoying some certain privileges under educationally less developed states (ELDS) disadvantage area, State like Ebonyi, Adamawa, Bauchi, Kaduna, among others. Precisely 23 out of 36 states, which is so pathetic as it is already, with this on ground as a way of encouraging people from such state to embrace education, we did not put into consideration that it also affects the standards of education, if I am from such state, the drive to work hard will be lesser than those not from such state and at the end of the day we graduate those two sets into the society, knowing full well we are graduating graduates from the same institutions but with different rating standard, we naturally cannot have a balanced standard in the society, a balance standard here does not mean a universal standard but a level of excellence that is acceptable within a society.
Furthermore, considering the low standard of education already in the Northern part of Nigeria before, with all due respect to them, with JAMB new regulation, it furthers not just destroy the Admission procedures over there, it also destroys the Education System. Before now candidates run to the North and some states with low Education standards because the admission process looks easier and so rejected mediocre in some states will be the champion in another state. With this new policy, its going to drive a lot of traffic to sub-standards schools and locations, permit me to say my use of sub-standard is never an attack nor an indictment on any institution or states, but rather weighing from the universities ranking and EDLS statistics. With much traffic there, the education system is getting destroyed daily.
I was scrolling through to check the daily news on a faithful morning and I got to discover that 23 institutions already approved and abide by the new minimum criteria for admission into tertiary institutions, I was not surprise, because most of the listed schools were private institutions, and we know the priority of most private institutions with all due respect to them, profit maximization. Aside the general aspersion being cast upon the quality, thoroughness and rigidity of the quality of the graduates of most Nigeria private institutions till date, JAMB standard has further given them a leverage ground to continue to foster quantity and profit maximization ahead of quality.
Permit me to say that JAMB's standard is heading the nation's education system towards waterloo as it will no longer give primacy to hard work and quality but rather quantity and money because as time goes on and more traffic is drawn to institutions with this ridiculous cut-off mark, other institutions who are no longer getting candidates as they ought to will be under pressure to lower their admission criteria or have low intakes which will affect their revenue. Although people might argue for a negation of this but if we look at the turn of the 180 cut-off mark set before, we will be sure on the inevitability of this. In past years JAMB takes nothing fall short of 50% mark which is 200 for admission but as soon as it was dropped to 180, most institutions at first did not drop theirs' but as soon as they felt the pressure of the traffic moving over to the other side, they had to compromise, today over 70 percent of Nigeria tertiary institutions have adopted the 180 mark as a standard. If care is not taking this will be the future for Nigeria institutions.
At this point, let me conclude that although JAMB may have other reasons for dropping the admission cut-off, but it is better to seek for better solution than the one they embarked on because it will lead the nation's education system to waterloo. One thing must be at the back of our mind always which is, no matter the way they came into the institution, we are still sending them back to the Nigeria society which is our tomorrow. Whether we like it or not, the effect of the quality we fail to enact will be evident, let a child keep trying and working hard till he or she is a success, if we don't give the foundation a solid structure, the building will in no time collapse and guess what, we all are in the building.
ESAN OLUWATOBI DAVID
LIVING LEGEND