The Federal Government has barred individuals under the age of 18 years from participating in the National Examinations Council (NECO) and West African Examinations Council (WAEC) examinations.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, stated this when he appeared on Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics’ programme on Sunday night.
He said the Federal Government has instructed WAEC which administers the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and NECO which organises the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) to comply with the directive on 18 years age limit for any candidate to be eligible for the two examinations.
Mamman also insisted that the age limit for any candidate to write the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) remained 18 years.
“It is 18 (years). What we did at the meeting that we had with JAMB (in July) was to allow this year and for it to serve as a kind of notice for parents that this year, JAMB will admit students who are below that age but from next year, JAMB is going to insist that anybody applying to go to university in Nigeria meets the required age which is 18.
“For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a new policy; this is a policy that has been there for a long time.
“Even basically if you compute the number of years pupils, and learners are supposed to be in school, the number you will end up with is 17 and a half – from early child care to primary school to junior secondary school and then senior secondary school. You will end up with 17 and a half by the time they are ready for admission.
“So, we are not coming up with new policy contrary to what some people are saying; we are just simply reminding people of what is existing.
“In any case, NECO and WAEC, henceforth will not be allowing underage children to write their examinations. In other words, if somebody has not spent the requisite number of years in that particular level of study, WAEC and NECO will not allow them to write the examination,” the Minsiter stated.
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If a 13 year old girl is eligible for marriage, what prevents her from being eligible for admission into institutions of higher learning? You people are not being honest with yourselves. 12 years old children in other countries are being exposed to advanced technologies but here you are trying to implement retrogressive policies. Shame on you.
If this policy has been in existence why then has it not been implemented by all stakeholders?. About 80 to 90% of students at all levels especially in the private schools will need to stop schooling for about three years to meet up with this requirement.
If they proceed with this action, the number of students writing 2025 exams will reduce drastically and I hope the exam bodies will also not mind the reduced revenue from that. The tertiary institutions will also be affected financially.
This policy will also bring about the fraudulent act of falsifying the date of birth of students. I’m sure this is not what we want for ourselves as a nation.
In my opinion, I think the government should tackle this at the entry point which is early school. This should be done in within a period of about eight years to allow those in school now finish. What do you expect parents to do with their children out of school for between two to three years?
Y will thy Cary minister of education go give aboki for d first place?