SEGUN ADENIYI: Unity Schools Indeed!

 

ADENIYI

The evidence that the Nigerian authorities have a way to bastardise every concept came early in the week when the cut-off marks for admission into the Federal Government Colleges nation-wide were released. According to a statement by the federal Ministry of Education, pupils that scored above the following cut-off marks (in the recent common entrance examination) based on their state of origin are eligible for admission into the so-called Unity Schools: Abia– Male(130) Female(130); Adamawa:– Male(62) Female(62); Akwa-Ibom:– Male(123) Female(123); Anambra:–Male(139) Female(139); Bauchi:– Male(35) Female(35); Bayelsa:– Male(72) Female(72); Benue:–Male(111) Female(111); Borno:– Male(45) Female(45); Cross-Rivers:– Male(97) Female(97);

Delta:– Male(131) Female(131); Ebonyi:– Male(112) Female(112); Edo:– Male(127) Female(127); Ekiti:– Male(119) Female(119); Enugu:– Male(134) Female(134); Gombe:– Male(58) Female(58); Imo:– Male(138) Female(138); Jigawa:–Male(44) Female(44); Kaduna:– Male(91) Female (91); Kano:– Male(67) Female(67); Kastina:– Male(60) Female(60); Kebbi:– Male(9) Female(20); Kogi:– Male(119) Female(119); Kwara:– Male(123) Female(123); Lagos – Male(133) Female(133); Nassarawa:–Male(58) Female(58); Niger:– Male(93) Female(93); Ogun:– Male(131) Female(131); Ondo:– Male(126) Female(126); Osun:– Male(127) Female(127); Oyo:– Male(127) Female(127); Plateau:– Male(97) Female(97); Rivers:– Male(118) Female(118); Sokoto:– Male(9) Female(13); Taraba:– Male(3) Female(11); Yobe:– Male(2) Female(27); Zamfara:– Male(4) Female(2) and FCT Abuja:– Male(90) Female(90).

That a score of less than ten out of 200 total marks would secure admission for candidates from Sokoto, Yobe, Taraba, Kebbi and Zamfara States whereas even a score as high as 130 is not enough for candidates from Anambra, Enugu, Delta, Ogun, Imo and Lagos states is beyond the ridiculous. Even when I have for long concluded that the federal government has no business running secondary schools, I fail to understand this sort of absurdity in which a mark of two (as in 2!) will secure admission for a boy from Yobe while his counterpart from Anambra would need a score of 139 to gain entrance into the same school.

I have friends from Yobe who reside in Abuja with smart kids that can compete with their colleagues anywhere in the country and will never go to a school with such ridiculous admission criteria. But because the education sector in Yobe (like many other states, especially in the North) has broken down and nobody is concerned about how to fix it, the federal ministry of education is compounding the problem with this cynical proposition which can only feed negative stereotypes, breed ill-feeling, fuel misdirected anger and help to further divide the country along regional lines. Whatever the motivation behind it, I sincerely do not think that this admission policy represents the spirit or the essence of the federal character principle that is being clearly debased here.