LAGOS,Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) The Federal Government is contemplating a potential revision of the minimum entry age for universities to 18, according to the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman.
Mamman made this announcement while overseeing the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Abuja.
Expressing concern, Mamman emphasized that underage students were mentally unprepared for the herculean tasks of university education, expressing concern that he had seen 15-year-olds writing the examination.
The Education Minister attributed part of the responsibility to parents for putting undue pressure on their children to pursue university education at an extremely tender age.
Furthermore, Mamman held underage students partly accountable for the difficulties encountered in higher institutions, stating that their lack of maturity and life experience hindered their ability to effectively manage the university environment.
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Mamman highlighted the need to address this issue, stating, “The other thing which we notice is the age of those who have applied to go to the university. “Some of them are too young. We are going to look at it because they are too young to understand what university education is all about. “That’s the stage when students migrate from a controlled environment where they are in charge of their affairs.
So if they are too young, they won’t be able to manage properly. “That accounts for some of the problems we are seeing in the universities. “We are going to look at that. 18 is the entry age for university but you will see students, 15, 16, going for the examination. “It is not good for us. Parents should be encouraged not to push their children too much.”
The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, welcomed the government’s proposal.
In an interview, Osodeke expressed support for the initiative, stating, “We are in full support. It is the right thing. What the minister said is the correct thing.”
He further explained that setting an age benchmark for admission was not a new concept and emphasized the need for regulatory bodies to effectively enforce such standards.
“The issue of age benchmark is not a new thing. It’s just that regulators have not been doing their work.
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“In those days, you could not go to primary school if you were not six years old. Then you spend six years and finish at age 12; and then by the time you get to secondary school you spend six years and then you graduate by 18.”
Traditionally, the standard admission age set by most tertiary institutions in the country is 16 years, unless a candidate is identified as exceptionally gifted.
According to reports, approximately 1,985,642 candidates are expected to sit for the 2024 UTME conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The examination, which began on Friday, April 19, is scheduled to conclude on Monday, April 29.