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Last week the federal government stirred a hornet’s nest when it went public with an educational policy that has turned out to be as controversial as any of its previous policies, especially those of economic nature.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman went public with the policy when he featured on Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics’ programme penultimate Sunday night.
Mamman stated that the federal government had directed WAEC, which is responsible for the conduct of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and NECO, which oversees the Senior School Certificate Examination to enforce the 18-year age requirement for candidates wishing to take these exams.
He added that the age limit for candidates sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, administered by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, still stands at 18 years.
He said the policy was not new as it had been in place before the current administration. “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.
NATIONAL WAVES could recall that only 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.”
NATIONAL WAVES is of the view that the policy is not only anachronistic but also counterproductive and stifling of potential talent of precocious students who are of ages below 18. It would seem the federal government hastily arrived at this decision without adequate consultations with all stakeholders catholic enough to involve all the parties in the ecosystem. Besides, no known scientific proof has been proffered that would suggest that students or pupils not yet 18 have not acquired substantial intellectual and cognitive faculty rigorous enough to meet the demands of WAEC, NECO and JAMB examinations. In different climes, we have read of professorship attainment at age below 30, which would suggest that substantial part of such holder’s undergraduate studies had taken place before the age of 20.
Little wonder, the announcement has evoked strong emotions on both sides. Government and those who see reason with it have argued that it is only when a child attains the age of 18 that they can actually be emotionally and intellectually strong for post secondary school educational pursuit. On this, academic opinions are divided. It would seem that government has not taken into consideration exceptional cases where students below 18 have actually proved to be emotionally and intellectually strong.
However, the law has 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, which 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.
NATIONAL WAVES calls for an inclusive policy framework whereby on important issues such as this, government should if possible hold a town hall meetings where all shades of opinion will be heard, this has the potential to enrich the quality of policy roll out in the future.
