The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) thursday declared as ridiculous the recently announced cut-off mark for admission into Nigerian Universities by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board JAMB .
NUT National President, Michael Olukoya Alogba, who made the remarks in an address to mark this year’s World Teachers Day, said the policy was capable of further lowering the standard of education in the country.
“ We are not unaware of the public debate concerning the reduction of the cut-off marks of the UTME for admission into universities to a ridiculous 120 instead of the 180 minimum standard earlier used. The 120 cut-off mark implies 30%, a percentage that is not in conformity with merit pass in any examinationâ€.
In the speech read by the Senior Assistant Secretary General, Mr. Tenense Gilbert Titus, Olukoya, said “We are not equally unaware of the age long cry over falling standard of education in Nigeria, of which the blame is always contemptuously put at the door steps of the teacher
“Against this backdrop, the NUT wishes to express its reservations to this policy of admission into Nigerian universities and urge the federal ministry of education and other relevant agencies to review the policy for the improvement of the standard of education in Nigeriaâ€.
Alogba said the union was opposed to the recruitment of non- teachers under the N-power scheme adding that “recruitment of non- graduates constitutes a “ huge contradiction to the laudable efforts being made by the federal government through the Teachers Registration Council in ensuring professionalism in teaching to rid the school system of non- professionals and quack teachersâ€
In his address, the acting governor of Niger State, Alhaji Mohammed Ahmed Ketso, said the government would soon begin the implementation of a pre- retirement training for civil servants.
The training, he said would make civil servants to be self- employed after their service and know how to properly invest their retirement benefits.
Chairperson of the NUT End Well Micro Finance Bank, Hajia Dije Bala, urged teachers to increase their savings in the bank as a way to improving their financial standing after retirement.
