Alleged attempts by authorities of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, Akoka, and the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board, JAMB, to change the official cut-off point of JAMB from between 180 and 200 to 250 was yesterday greeted with protests by some candidates billed to participate in the school’s 2015/2016 post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (post-UTME).
According to UNILAG management, registration for the screening will hold between July 21 and August 7, even as the screening test will hold between August 12 and 13.
Vanguard gathered that some candidates who were accompanied to the university to register for the screening, were shocked to learn that the cut-off point usually placed at 200 over the years was increased to 250.
This irked the aggrieved candidates and their parents as they embarked on a peaceful protest in front of the university’s main gate.
The protesters were seen carrying placards with various inscriptions such as “Go back to the JAMB 180 cut-off mark,” “We insist that the 250 cut-off mark is unacceptable,” “Our children must not be disqualified from participating in the post-UTME screening,” among others.
However, the registrar of UNILAG, Dr Taiwo Ipaye, said that of the 32,000 candidates that applied for admission into the university, only 9,000 were eligible for screening.
Some parents who brought their wards to the campus for the post-UTME registration, expressed disappointment over their children’s exclusion from JAMB’s list of shortlisted candidates.
Vanguard gathered that the decision to increase the cut-off point to 250, especially in federal universities, considered as most sought after by candidates, was to reduce the army of candidates who chose them as their most preferred institution during the last UTME screening test.
Aside from UNILAG, other federal universities said to have increased their cut-off point from 200 to 250 are Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ife, Osun State, University of Ibadan, UI, Oyo State, University of Illorin, UNILORIN, Kwara State, and University of Nigeria, UNN, Nsukka, Enugu State.
But when contacted by Vanguard, Vice Chancellor, UI, Professor Isaac Adewole, said: “Our JAMB cut-off point to qualify candidates for post-UTME in University of Ibadan is still 200. We will use that in conjunction with the post-UTME scores of candidates to give them admission into our school.”
Reacting, one of the parents, Dr. Ben Emone, expressed dissatisfaction at the sudden change in procedure by the university and JAMB, noting that though his son made UNILAG his first choice, and scored 260 in the UTME, he noted that the tradition of the university had been to peg its cut-off mark at 200.
