Federal Government on Tuesday defended the controversial cut-off point released for admissions into the 104 Unity Colleges in the country.

Whereas a pupil from Anambra State, irrespective of gender, is expected to score at least 139 to gain admission into the schools, a male pupil from Yobe and a female from Zamfara is required to score only two.

It also showed discrimination between male and female students in some states.

While a male student from Yobe requires only two out of 300 possible scores to gain admission, a female requires 27 to gain admission into the same school. For Taraba, it is three for male and 11 for female. It is nine against 20 in favour of male in Kebbi State.

In an interview with our correspondent, Mr. Simeon Nwakaudu, who is the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of State at the education ministry, Nyesom Wike, said there was no ill motive behind the cut-off points as “the reason the schools were established in the first place was for unity”.

Our correspondent however learnt that the principles of Merit, Catchment Area, and Educationally Less Developed States was insisted on by the Federal Government to accommodate the educationally backward states in the North, especially those suffering from security challenges.

A source who spoke to our correspondent in confidence said, “Many schools don’t even have candidates at all. While there is over subscription for Kings College, Queens College, Federal Government College, Enugu and Port-Harcourt, there is no subscription for schools in Yobe, Sokoto Adamawa, Borno and others that do not even have security issues.”