The minister reiterated the government's position that only applicants who were 18 years and above were eligible for admission into tertiary institutions.
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Since the pronouncement in April during a Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations monitoring exercise in Bwari, Abuja, the minister has received both hail and knock.However, to calm frayed nerves and bring the meeting to normalcy, Mr Mamman, like a presiding officer in a parliamentary plenary, had asked, “Are we together?”, while the participants chorused in unison, “No, no, no.”
Many have commended the minister for shifting ground and conceding to allowing students who participated in the 2024 UTME but were under 18 to gain admission. Experts have, however, observed that the implementation of the education policies led to the menace of admitting underage children into secondary schools.
This development has led to many students graduating from secondary schools at ages 14, 15 and 16, and getting admission into tertiary institutions in the country. “This pronouncement is a reminder and if you look at all the policy documents on the schooling system in Nigeria, the UBE Act for instance, you’ll find that the entry age into primary school is six.
When asked if there will be any sanction for failure to obey the policy, the minister said there would be no sanction, but the child would simply not be admitted. They are of the opinion that the decision was harsh, as many students in this current generation don’t graduate from secondary school at the required age to enable them to proceed to higher education.
Lovelyn Anabogwu, a facilitator at the National Teachers Institute , said 16 years is an ideal age for students to gain admission to tertiary institutions because they were already mentally, physically, psychologically and emotionally suitable at that age. She, therefore, called on the government to reconsider the age limit and allow entry age into tertiary institutions to be pegged at 16 years.
“I call on the minister to have a rethink on this pronouncement so that we will not drive our education system and vibrant youth population backward,” she said. According to him, this will go a long way in checking the excesses of some parents who might want to enrol their underage children in various classes.
“Judging by the 9-3-4 system of education, 18 years is the year of maturity. A child is admitted into primary school at age six; spend six years in primary school and transits into secondary school. “We believe in doing that and supporting the government, we will be giving the best to the children and they can then move to tertiary institutions at that age,’’ Ms Magaji said.
“The 6-3-3-4 system comprises skills acquisition. If a child is not capable of proceeding to senior secondary school, at least such a child would have learnt a skill. This will go a long way in curtailing vices of cultism, drug addiction, prostitution and many more, which many undergraduates are lured into on getting into unrestrained and vibrant tertiary school environments
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