Federal Government of To Adopt 18 Years As The Minimum Age For Admission Into Tertiary Institutions
The Nigerian Government, through the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, has decried the rate of underage entry into universities, saying there is a plan to review and peg the minimum entry age into tertiary institutions in the country to 18 years. Also mentioned about skill acquisition for those who will not be able to gain admission into tertiary institutions
The Minister gave the directive on Monday during a monitoring exercise of the ongoing 2024 UTME – Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in Bwari, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
He criticized the activities of some parents, who were pressuring their underage students to get admission into tertiary institutions. Prof. Mamman said that the 18-year benchmark is in line with the 6-3-3-4 system of education.
According to his statement, “The minimum age of entry into the university is 18, but we have seen students who are 15, 16 years going in for the entrance examination.
“Parents should be encouraged not to push their wards too much. Mostly, it is the pressure of parents that is causing this.
“We are going to look at this development because the candidates are too young to understand what the whole university education is all about.
“This is the period when children migrate from a controlled to an uncontrolled environment; when they are in charge of their own affairs. But, if they are too young, they won’t be able to manage properly. I think that is part of what we are seeing in the universities today,” he said.
On skill acquisition for those who will not be able to gain admission into tertiary institutions, Mr Mamman said the ministry is taking skills to pupils from primary school.
“Overall, it is 20% per cent that can be admitted into the university, polytechnic and colleges of education system. So, where will the 80% per cent go to? That is why the issue of skills acquisition is very important.
Any student who is unable to proceed to tertiary institutions should be able to have a meaningful life after primary and secondary school education and the only solution to this is skill acquisition,” he said.
“The only solution to that is skills; by taking skills right from the time they entered school, for the primary right through the educational trajectory. Somebody should finish with one skill or another. That is part of the assumption of the 6-3-3-4.
“It is assumed that by the time a student finishes up to the JSS level, he will have acquired some skills. If he does not proceed to the senior secondary level, he will have acquired some skills that will help him navigate life and cease to be a burden on his parents and society.
“That’s why this skill is just the most important skill for us now that we are going to drive through the education sector for both public and private sector to empower the young ones,” he stated.
Corroborating the minister’s position on the benchmark of 18 years for admission to tertiary institutions, the JAMB spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, said 18 years is in line with the 6-3-3-4 education system.
Also, Yusuf Sununu, the Minister of State for Education, who was in the monitoring team applauded the conduct of the 2024 UTME examination, particularly the introduction of online examinations – CBT as a way of checking malpractices.
He said the Computer Based Test (CBT) had reduced examination malpractices to the barest minimum.
Mr Sununu commended the Board for setting a simple but high standard for the examination.
Source: News Agency of Nigeria (NANS), Nigerian Tribune & Leadership.ng