The Minister of State for Education, Prof Anthony Anwukah, who said this in Abuja on Monday in an interview with our correspondent, noted that the 100 marks cut-off obtained presently for prospective teachers through the colleges of education and other higher institutions “was unacceptable.”
The minister said the low cut-off would bring a fall in the standard and quality of teachers produced in the country.
It would be recalled that JAMB, at a meeting on Tuesday, August 22, fixed the cut-off marks for admission into the higher institutions for the 2017/2018 academic session, giving 100 score as the cut-off for colleges of education and polytechnics.
The cut-offs were arrived at during a policy meeting with heads of institutions and other education bodies in Abuja.
But Anwukah said the government would meet with the JAMB and work towards a review of the cut-off marks.
He said, “The recent announcement by JAMB (on the cut-offs) has not gone well with me. There is no point saying that those candidates going for teacher training should have 100 marks. Rather, those going for teaching should have about 200. Let’s bring the cut-off up so that quality persons can take over the teaching profession. We have to rethink teacher training, teacher recruitment and teacher qualification in this country.
We are going to discuss with JAMB and make sure this cut-off is addressed. To me, it is very unacceptable. We will discuss and see whether some amendments can be made next year.
I am proposing a memo for the government. We have to closely look again at teacher quality and training in Nigeria. We have to get the right people into the teaching profession. We have to give a particular unique status to teachers.
Source: Punch
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