Lawmaker wants JAMB cut-off mark raised, more funding for education

The Deputy Chairman Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education, Senator Akon Eyakenyi, has said to address the failing standard of education in the country, the curriculum and quality of teachers should be improved.

She also asked Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to raise the cut-off mark for students who want to study education.

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The lawmaker, who stated this during the monitoring exercise of the 2022 National Personnel Audit, being carried out by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in Abuja on Monday, said, “The educational sector needs more funding. We have been crying out for that in the chambers. When we miss it at this level, the country will have issues to face.”

She maintained that education is not to be left to the government alone even though it is the responsibility of the government to ensure the public schools are properly maintained.

She said parents and wealthy Nigerians should support the government to improve the falling standard of education.

Eyakenyi, who also raised concern on the growing numbers of out-of-school children, said due to insecurity in the nation, children would not go to school.

“Parents don’t want to send their children to school again and that has increased the number of out-of-school children,” she added.

She, however, noted that the essence of the audit is to help the planners gather information and proper data about the schools in Nigeria, and the record will help them to know how to advise the government, particularly the national assembly.

“Other than that, this exercise will also help the officers to identify the number of teachers that each school has, if it is commiserating with the number of pupils. The quality of the teachers are also very important, apart that, most importantly, is to ensure that those teachers are registered with TRCN,” she said.

She said: “That is why this exercise covers both private and the public Schools. We are concentrating on the primary and the junior secondary.”

Speaking, the Chairman of Gaal International School, Abuja, Senator Ikechukwu Godson Abana, promised to ensure that the staff and management carry out the required exercise, saying, the school is among those that complies to rules and regulation laid by government.