The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has welcomed the decision to allow tertiary institutions to set their individual minimum benchmark for admission. ASCSN’s President, Mr Tommy Okon, who made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday said that the decision would improve the […]
The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has welcomed the decision to allow tertiary institutions to set their individual minimum benchmark for admission.
ASCSN’s President, Mr Tommy Okon, who made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday said that the decision would improve the quality and service delivery of education.
He spoke in reaction to the recent announcement by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) cancelling general cut-off marks for entrance into tertiary institutions and allowing the schools to set their minimum benchmarks.
“For each University to come up with its cut-off marks will enable it screen and understand the kind of students it should admit.
“Moreover, universities have been clamouring that they should give admissions, because they understand the process better than JAMB, which is just a body,” he said.
The ASCSN boss said that getting the recruitment and admissions processes right would be the basis of quality education in the country.
Okon said; “We need to try and get that policy right, because a lot of cultist activities are going on at the universities, even from the secondary schools.
“It all starts from the process of admitting students; therefore, getting it right is paramount to quality education in the country,” he said.
In her remarks, the Chairman, Lagos State Chapter, Nigeria Labour Congress, Mrs Funmi Sessi, said that level and foundation of education including setting cut-off marks should be the same across the federation.
Sessi said that allowing universities to set their cut-off marks would lead to prejudice across universities in different states of the federation.
“It means that the standard of education would be low in all those states where, for instance, cut-off marks have been set low.
“You find that some students are not even worthy of learning, because they have poor education due to their poor foundation.
“All marks should be the same across all states and the government should respect the sanctity of the country by improving the quality and standard of education,” she said.
Supreme reports that JAMB had at its Aug. 31, 2021 virtual policy meeting said that tertiary institutions were now to set their own minimum benchmarks.
The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu.
