Tertiary institutions in Nigeria have been directed not to give candidates less than 18 years of admission.
Prof. Tahir Mamman, Minister of Education gave the directive on Monday while monitoring exercise of the ongoing 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME in Bwari, Federal Capital Territory.
Mamman decried the activities of some parents, who were pressuring their underage students to get admissions into tertiary institutions, saying that the 18-year benchmark is in line with the 6-3-3-4 system of education.
“The minimum age of entry into the University is 18, but we have seen students who are 15, and 16 years old going in for the entrance examination.
“Parents should be encouraged not to push their wards too much. Mostly, it is the pressure of parents that is causing this.
“We are going to look at this development because the candidates are too young to understand what the whole university education is all about.
“This is the period when children migrate from controlled to uncontrolled environments; when they are in charge of their affairs.
“But, if they are too young, they won’t be able to manage properly. I think that is part of what we are seeing in the Universities today,” he said.
He also revealed that the ministry is taking skills to pupils from primary school to enable those who will not be able to gain admissions into tertiary institutions to learn trades.
“Overall, it is 20 percent that can be admitted into the University, Polytechnic, and Colleges of Education system.
“So, where will the 80 percent go? That is why the issue of skills acquisition is very important.
“Any student who is unable to proceed to tertiary institutions should be able to have a meaningful life after primary and secondary school education and the only solution to this is skill acquisition,” he said.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu who was in the monitoring team applauded the conduct of the 2024 UTME and noted that the introduction of online examinations will checkmate malpractices.
Sununu commended the Board for setting a simple but high standard for the examination and said the Computer Test (CBT) had reduced examination malpractices to the barest minimum.
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