BY DAYO ADESULU
Stakeholders in Education Sector have lamented the recent policy by tertiary institutions in Nigeria to accept less than 50 percent pass mark as entry requirement into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
They posited that the policy would further worsened the already decay sector and promote mediocrity among students.
Speaking in this regard, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Folake Solanke opined that to improve the quality of graduates and make them globally fit for the job market, entry-level requirements into tertiary institutions must be pegged at 50 per cent.
Solanke who spoke during the 20th Mike Okonkwo annual lecture titled: ‘Justice as an instrument of enduring peace in Nation building’ said, ‘’Our authorities must be partially blamed for poor academic performance of graduates.’’
Recall that in recent years, JAMB’s admission cut off marks have been fluctuating between 120 to 150 marks. Solanke said no, it must not continue.
She posited that less than 50 percent pass mark as entry requirement for tertiary admission would breed mediocrity, adding, ‘it should not be encouraged. Solanke, rather urged students to aspire to reach academic Utopia.
The SAN who spoke extensively at the annual lecture held at the Muson Centre, Lagos seeks an end to 40 per cent pass mark for admission into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
On her part, Professor Akachi Ezeigbo, chief examiner of the essay competition expressed concern about the poor reading culture of Nigerian youths and growing menace of plagiarism in the country.
She said: “The most urgent in this list of problems is the alarming incidence of plagiarism at the secondary school level.
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‘’On account of their youthful age, many students are yet to understand that they must exercise a great deal of restraint in their use of copyrighted materials.
‘’Some students lift materials and present them as their original work. Others combine bits and pieces from a variety of sources to disguise the origin of the materials”.
Ezeigbo, while commenting on the performance of pupils at the essay competition observed that a careful scrutiny of each entry submitted for the competition continues to reveal the problems of the nation’s educational system that we must take steps to tackle in order to ensure global trust in the quality of students we produce.
Meanwhile, Femi Falana, senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in his lecture at the event noted that since law alone cannot curb the crisis of unequal criminal justice in the country, it is important that Nigerian lawyers appreciate that Nigerian cannot guarantee law and order under the peripheral capitalist system being operated by the government.
Falana opines that instead of relying on market forces as dictated by the neoliberal elements in the government, the State should empower the Nigerian people to control the economy.
According to him, “The country will not know peace without economic empowerment of the people”
Highlight of the event was the presentation of prizes to winners of the 16th Mike Okonkwo National Essay competition for Senior Secondary School students.