JAMB Allowed to Reduce 180 Cut-off Mark

JAMB Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has been allowed to reduce the cut off mark of institutions who have exhausted list of candidates from 180 and above.

JAMB Registrar, Profssor Is-haq Oloyede, made this known in a speech delivered during the Second Technical Committee Meeting on the 2016 Admissions to Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria held at Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri, Imo State.According to the speech which was made available to journalists in Abuja yesterday by the Head of Information JAMB, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, the Registrar said the decision was taken to ensure that the Federal Government’s Policy of expansion of access to higher education and manpower development was not defeated.He explained that most of the institutions who were part of the decision to adopt the 180 minimum benchmark during the 2016-Policy Meeting chaired by Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, drew attention to the difficulty of admitting candidates as a result of cutoff marks.The JAMB Registrar noted that based on this, a large number of institutions had applied for a waiver to enable them admit candidates who scored below 180 marks.Oloyede said: “Just this morning we received a green light on flexible cut-off mark only for institutions which have exhausted the list of candidates with 180 above, subject, of course to a minimum acceptable to JAMB and meeting of other pre requisite.“Many institutions, though part of the decision, have expressed concern on their inability to effect this cut-off mark as they are finding it difficult to fill a reasonable percentage of their quota if the rule is strictly applied as we insist.“A large number of institutions, particularly the budding ones, have applied for a waiver to enable them admit candidates who in some instances scored below 180 marks,” he added.“For some, this may sound unreasonable with the largely false impression that a large percentage of those who score above 180 and are qualified for admission cannot find any placement in our institutions, but I think this cry needs attention, otherwise, some of these institutions whether public or privately-owned may soon begin to wobble or even close shops.“As a board, we have studied the trend of admissions and have come up with a finding that hardly do the institutions collectively fill their quota annually. Indeed, in some cases, up to 50% of approved quota is wasted particularly by upright institutions which do not circumspect the rule.“Unfortunately, a large number of institutions flagrantly disregarded the cut-off and many other policies, yet they found a way to eventually regularise the illegal admissions through corrupt process.”