The Federal Ministry of Education pegs cut-off marks for admission into the 104 unity schools nationwide at 134 on average for the five South-East states, while states in the North have cut-offs of 20 marks and even below.
The cut-off lists as released by the Ministry for the 2020/2021 academic year has a huge disparity between the cut-off marks which candidates from South-East and South-West states should have and what the candidates from North should obtain.
According to the breakdown, Anambra has the highest cut-off of “139 marks for both males and females; Imo 138; Enugu 134, Lagos 133; Delta 131, Ogun 131, Abia 130 and Edo.”
Osun and Oyo also are among the 10 top with the highest cut-off marks with both of them having 127 marks.
According to SR, the least 10 cut-off marks for Unity Schools are all northern states; Gombe 58; Nasarawa 58; Borno 45; Jigawa 44, Bauchi 35; Kebbi has 9 for males and 20 for females.
Also, Sokoto has 9 for males and 13 for females; Zamfara has 4 marks for males and 2 for females.
Taraba and Yobe are the least states with Taraba having 3 for males and 11 for females while Yobe has 2 for males and 27 for females.
The cut-off marks were reportedly released by the National Examination Council.
“Some pupils are admitted into Unity schools with as low as two marks in the common entrance examinations while some can only get into the same schools with at least 130 marks. Slowly mediocrity has crept in.
“While a candidate from Anambra State has to struggle for 139, a candidate from Zamfara is looking for just 4 marks. Yes, it is true that the quota system is meant to give educationally disadvantaged regions of the country an opportunity to access quality education, but that gap is ridiculous.
“Merit should also be a strong consideration,” an education expert, who did not want his name in print, explained.