UTME 120 cut-off mark is embarrassing- ASUUP
The National
President of ASUUP, Mr. Usman Dutse, said on the telephone to a Media outlet on
Sunday that the 120 and 100 cut-off marks set by JAMB for admission into
universities and polytechnics respectively was ridiculous and should not be
encouraged.
He said that
a candidate who scored 120 out of 400 would only have scored 25 percent of
total score, which meant that the person failed the examination.
He wondered
what JAMB hoped to achieve with the low cut-off marks, stressing that 25
percent of total score in examination is failure by global standards.
He stated
also that subjecting candidates who scored 120 to the post-Unified Tertiary
Matriculation Examination only portrays JAMB as irrelevant.
“We don’t
actually know what JAMB wants to achieve with that decision, but as a major
stakeholder, all we know is that 100 and 120 as cut-off points are too low.
“I believe
that in any global standard examination rating. 25 percent is failure. because
100 and 120 are more or less 25 percent of the exam which, as I said earlier,
is failure. So, using that as a benchmark standard is degrading and the effect
would be that quality would be eroded.
“And the
notion by JAMB that institutions can upgrade the mark to suit their needs is
funny, because if institutions can upgrade the marks higher than JAMB’s cut-off
point, it means that there is no need for people to write JAMB.
“Writing
JAMB with 120 marks and sitting for post-UTME shows that JAMB has lost its
relevance; so, we feel that the decision is wrong and it would not go well with
tertiary institution because the decision ridicules the higher institutions in
the country,” Dutse said.
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