PUNCH
The Nigeria Union of Teachers has condemned the Federal Government’s decision to ban under-18 candidates from sitting for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and the National Examination Council, even as the Academic Staff Union of Universities backed the policy, The PUNCH reports.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, announced on Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics’ programme that the Federal Government had instituted a new age policy for secondary school leaving examinations, setting the minimum age at 18.
This means underage candidates will no longer be allowed to sit for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and the Senior School Certificate Examination, both crucial for advancing to tertiary education.
The directive also affects the West African Examinations Council, which administers the WASSCE, and the National Examinations Council responsible for the SSCE. Additionally, Mamman confirmed that the age limit to undertake the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, overseen by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, will also be 18.
He added that this was not a new policy.
“For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a new policy; this is a policy that has been there for a long time,” Mamman stated.
“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 a 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 minister went further to give a breakdown of the number of years pupils were expected to spend between child care and senior secondary school. According to him, early care is expected to last for the first five years. Pupils are expected to begin primary one at the age of six, spend six years in primary school and move to junior secondary school at the age of 12, spend three years, before moving to senior secondary school at the age of 15, then spend another three years before leaving for university at the age of 18.
Last month, Mamman, in a meeting with JAMB and other education stakeholders, insisted that the UTME should be set at 18 years.
Mamman stated, “JAMB is hereby notified that there is now a ban on underage students, those under the age of 18, from our tertiary institutions for the 2024 admissions… It doesn’t require a statement of the minister… we are only restating what is in the law.”
However, the law sparked criticisms, particularly from university stakeholders, as many of those categorised as underage candidates had already taken the UTME without anticipating the directive. This posed a threat to potential 16 and 17-year-olds, who had already passed the UTME and were seeking admission into universities.
Following the disapproval, the minister reversed the directive, allowing candidates from 16 years to be admitted into the university as it previously stood until 2025.
However, following Sunday’s pronouncement, Mamman insisted that there was no going back on the policy.
The minister said, “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.”
But the Secretary-General, NUT, Dr Mike Ene, in an interview with The PUNCH, said that changes in society, like early enrollment in crèches due to economic pressures, made it unrealistic to restrict learning based on age.
“The only way this policy could work is if it’s implemented from the foundation. By that, I mean starting at the primary school level. In the past, before a child was allowed to start school, they had to pass a basic test — like reaching their hand over their head to touch the opposite ear. If they couldn’t, they were sent back home.
“However, things have changed. Nowadays, due to economic pressures, parents enroll their children in crèches early, which means both parents have to work,” Ene told The PUNCH.
“Teachers at these crèches begin to educate the children, and they start learning quickly. You can’t stop them from learning because the brain is structured to keep developing—once learning stops, the brain stagnates.”
He added that exceptional students, who might be younger but academically advanced, were not considered in the policy, warning that the policy could lead to legal challenges and urged the government to rethink it, calling it poorly conceived.
“You also have to consider exceptional students. Some students are 16 years old in SS3. Is the minister taking these scenarios into account? What are these students supposed to do? Wait two more years? I see this as a policy that could lead to numerous legal challenges. The government needs to rethink this thoroughly. It is poorly conceived.”
