Unity schools’ cut-off marks: Reactions trail court verdict

The declaration followed a suit filed before the court by Dr. Olisa Agbakoba SAN against the federal government and the Education Minister, to challenge the admission disparity in the unity colleges. The court declared that application of different cut-off marks based on states of origin and gender violates the candidates’ fundamental rights to freedom from […]

The declaration followed a suit filed before the court by Dr. Olisa Agbakoba SAN against the federal government and the Education Minister, to challenge the admission disparity in the unity colleges.
The court declared that application of different cut-off marks based on states of origin and gender violates the candidates’ fundamental rights to freedom from discrimination guaranteed by Section 42(1) of the 1999 Constitution.
 The court therefore ordered both the federal government and the Minister of Education to apply uniform cut-off marks to all candidates seeking admission into Federal Government Colleges, irrespective of their states of origin.
Consequent upon the judgement, a section of educationists have continued to express their reservations. They argue that the previous arrangement, where some sections of the country were enjoying some exceptions, is still relevant if the priority of the government is to provide all Nigerians with access to education.
An educationist, Malam Alfa Gimba, of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Staff School said the policy was ill-informed, considering the education predicaments that some parts of the country are going through.
“The first thing that I want to say is, why is the federal allocation staggered where some states of the federation receive more money than others? The obvious answer is that some states are considered more vulnerable than others in terms of their demands and needs. If that is the case, then why would education be different? We have to tell ourselves the truth. In Nigeria some sections are backward educationally, and these sections ought to be encouraged.
“This encouragement ought to start from the admission process. If you say, for example, you are going to make a child from Zamfara or Borno to face similar procedures in securing admission with a child from Lagos or Rivers, you are not being fair. Those of us in the education sector know that learning environment is one of the factors that determine the character of a learner. This is why a teacher is expected to know how to handle a child from rural area and that from urban area, and carry all of them along in his lesson,” Malam Gimba, who is Headmaster of the ABU Staff school for many years, said.
He observed further that government should involve educationists in whatever decision it takes to avoid a situation of short-changing a certain group of people or a section of the country.
“Another issue that makes this decision ill-informed is the issue of girl-child education. In this part of the country, we still have the problem of parents that are reluctant in allowing their female children to have access to education. So, if you make admission process very stringent, you are knowingly or unknowingly encouraging such parents to continue to deny their girls education by hiding behind this stringent procedure,” he explained.
When his attention was drawn to the fact that some Nigerians may regard the reasons he was advancing as indication of academic weakness of students from the North, especially, Malam Gimba said: “Look! We know the type of pupils and students we train. We know their quality and ability. This is why any result that our students present is genuine result that was acquired out of their intelligence, because in this part of the country, cases of examination malpractice are very minimal. Our students earn their results themselves. Therefore, when you say you would subject a student that is used to malpractice and the one that doesn’t know what is cheating in examination, of course, you are killing the latter.
“We usually attend quiz competitions and even other educational competitions. The quality of our students is always on display, because these are avenues where all room for bias is blocked, except for a few cases that are beginning to crop up now.
“So, what we are saying is not out of fear that our students cannot pass the required examinations to gain admission into these colleges, but we are talking of fairness. I have stated earlier that some sections of the country have more advantage than others educationally, and therefore the disadvantaged sections should be encouraged not discouraged, that is all we are saying,” Malam Gimba said.
Another educationist and a lecturer in the Department of Education, Bayero University, Kano, Malam Kamilu Ibrahim, said considering the wide gap between the South and the North in terms of education, one could have described the development as unfair to the northern part of the country.
He said that western education was introduced to the southern part of the country in 1861 while in the North it came around 1908, saying that “the South started 47 years ahead of the North.”
The idea for the establishment of unity schools is to enhance unity among Nigerians by creating an environment where children from different places will come together and study.
“So, if the issue of unity is in place, if the issue of educational opportunity is in place, if the issue of advantaged and disadvantaged group is in place and if the issue of unity enhancement in place, I think there is need for different cut-off marks, considering the standardisation of education and disparity of educational standard between South and North.
“Education is part of the nation’s resources, therefore the formula of resource allocation has to be used because each state has its own people, its own education format, standard and peculiar challenges. So each state should use its own format for admitting students.
He added that if a uniform cut-off is enforced for the unity schools, the name should then be changed to reflect the new arrangement because if it is for unity each state is entitled to its own quota but with uniform cut-off marks, some states may not fill their quota in such schools despite the fact that the school is located in their areas and this can fuel inequality among the states.
For Dr. Ibrahim Aliyu, a Chief Lecturer at the Federal College of Education (FCE), Zaria, those coming up with the new decision should go back to history to see why the initial system of admission into unity colleges was put in place.
“The idea of the present system is to bridge the gap that exists between different parts of the country. That gap is still there. And since it is still there, then why are we trying to tamper with the system. Instead, we should continue to take measures that would bridge that gap before we would say we are ripe for uniform cut off points for admission into unity colleges,” Dr. Aliyu said.
He shares the reasons advanced by Malam Gimba, adding that the issue of poverty is also one of the factors that the formulators of the new policy should consider.
He said: “Because of poverty, some parents in this part of the country find it difficult to sponsor their children to school. So, if you say you would make admission process very rigorous, you are discouraging the few that are struggling to send their children to school. By and large, whatever policy we would introduce, as educationists we are supposed to sit down and think about the consequences, especially in relations to providing access to education to all Nigerians. This can be done when we put our knowledge into practice.”
A father, who has daughters at Federal Government Girls’ College, Minjibir, Kano State, Munir Shehu, said one of his daughters’ secured admission into the college courtesy of the previous formula.
“So, if they say they would introduce this new system, it means most of our children cannot get admission because our children don’t know how to cheat in examinations. This also means that most states in the North cannot fill their quotas in these colleges. I think the government should have a rethink if it actually wants to assist us,” Malam Shehu said.
As the debate over the new policy rages, stakeholders in the education sector are keeping their fingers crossed to see whether government would assent to the yearnings of the people or not.