The Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) has denied awarding lower cut-off marks to to Northern Students who sit for the UTME.
This is in reaction to the claims by the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai that the exam body usually awards lower cut-off markers for admission into tertiary institutions.
He added that if the education standards of the nation must be high, all candidates must be treated equally.
For him, Northern students have become lazy and find it difficult to compete outside the country because of the low standards set from home.
Channels TV had fielded an interview with Governor where he made the revelations.
“El-Rufai Warns Against Lowering JAMB Scores
“The Governor of Kaduna state, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has warned The Joint Admissions And Matriculation Board, JAMB to stop the practice of awarding what he calls ”prefential scores” to students in the northern part of the country.“
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On its part, JAMB, in an interview with Punch, Head of Information and Media, Fabian Benjamin denied that the exam body does not according any candidate any preferential treatment.
He said that it is the duty of JAMB to set minimum scores for admission into schools.
“We don’t give preferential or differential cut-off marks to candidates. Candidates are admitted on the scores as defined by institutions. As for the UTME, they sit for the examination and it is what they obtain that is the basis for their selection after the policy meeting has authorised the commencement of admission.
“There are no preferential cut-off marks for anybody. What people refer to as the cut-off mark is the minimum score and each institution sets its own minimum score; it is a function of performance in the UTME for the year, subscription to programs and institutions that is how many candidates have applied to te institutions or for the programs. These are what push the minimum score either up or down for institutions or programs.
“The determining factor is the subscription to a particular program or school. If a subscription is very low, technically, it will affect the minimum score for the program.”
Fabian Benjamin, JAMB Head of Information and Media