THE NEW Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, has reversed the decision of the past minister, Tahir Mamman, on the 18-year admission benchmark into tertiary institutions in the country.
Alausa said this at his first briefing as Minister of Education in Abuja on Tuesday, November.
According to the minister, the creation of the National Policy on Education was the reason behind that first decision.
He, however, hinted at the possibility of his administration reviewing the nation’s education policy.
“We will not be going forward with the 18-year admission benchmark. We will go for 16 years, and we are going to meet with JAMB and others on that. There will also be exceptions for the gifted students. Eighteen years is not part of our policy again,” Alausa stated.
Alausa responded to the removal of certificates from Togo and the Benin Republic by saying that the policy would continue to be implemented in order to help remove phoney certificates from the system.
He stated that the ministry has made addressing the issue of out-of-school children a top priority and that several approaches would be taken into consideration in order to lower their population.
In order to encourage students to enroll in more schools, he stated that the ministry would work with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to offer conditional financial transfers.
To improve the development of human capital, he added, nutritional programs would be implemented to enhance students’ health.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the minister, along with the Minister of State for Education, Suwaiba Ahmad, was officially welcomed by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Nasiru Sani-Gwarzo.
The ICIR reported that in July, the former Minister of Education, Mamman, a professor, made a U-turn on his earlier directive mandating the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and Nigerian tertiary institutions not to admit candidates below 18 years.
This decision came after objections and appeals from stakeholders, including rectors, registrars, the vice chancellor, and other principal officers present at the 2024 admission policy meeting organised by JAMB in Abuja on Thursday, July 18.
Mamman had earlier directed JAMB and tertiary institutions to stop admitting under-18-year-old candidates into higher education programmes.
Mamman gave the order in the same meeting, decrying the activities of some parents, whom he said pressured their underage wards to get admission into tertiary institutions.
“JAMB is hereby instructed this year to admit only eligible students. That is those who have attained 18 years by our laws,” the minister said.
The minister emphasised that his stance is supported by Nigeria’s law governing admissions into tertiary institutions, noting that admission bodies should recognise this requirement without being directed to obey it.
His announcement sparked mixed reactions among vice-chancellors, rectors, and registrars present at the meeting, with some stakeholders present at the meeting protesting the new minimum admission age.
However, during the review of the memorandum for the 2024 policy meeting on this year’s admissions, Mamman later called for the adoption of 16 years.
The minister agreed that candidates aged 16 and above would be admitted, acknowledging that many of these underage candidates had already taken the UTME without prior knowledge of the directive.
However, he stated that starting in 2025, the 18-year entry requirement in tertiary institutions would be in effect.
A reporter with the ICIR
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