Parents and Teachers have reacted to the decision of the Federal Government to peg the age at which students can write the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations, SSCE, and Joint Admissions Matriculation Examination at 18.
The Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, on Monday said that from 2025, any candidate who is not up to 18 will not be allowed to write the examination and without doing so, such candidate won’t be able to seek admission into tertiary institutions.
Mammal said that Nigeria operates the 6–3–3–4 system where a child enrols in school at age six for six years each of primary and secondary education.
At the end of secondary school, a student is expected to be about 18 years old, but many students often graduate at 16 or less due to skipped grades.
“It is 18 (years). What we did at the meeting that we had with JAMB was to allow underage candidates this year and for it to serve as a kind of notice for parents.” Mammal said
“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.”
“This is a policy that has been there for a long time. 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.
“In any case, NECO and WAEC, henceforth, will not be allowing under-age 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,” he said.
Asked what the minimum age to write SSCE would be, the minister responded: “It is not a matter of age. It is the years spent at each level of education.”
Reacting to the statement, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT Secretary General, Dr Mike Ene, expressed disappointment at the development.
“One good thing about our minister is that he is a lecturer and also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. One hopes the policy will stand the test of time. They should have another look at the policy.
’They cannot just wake up and make such a decision. They must consult widely on it. I am a member of the National Council on Education, NCE, and we held a meeting in Lagos early this year I am not sure such a matter was discussed. It is decisions taken at such a meeting that should be pursued.
“The NCE comprises the ministers, commissioners for education in all states, the NUT, bodies such as WAEC, NECO, JAMB, UBEC and others. If that is done, what will become of gifted children?. Yes, in our days, people started school at six years old, but we still had those who left secondary school before 18.
“Now that our children start early, say by three years they are in creche, singing nursery rhymes, after that, they move on. So, they complete secondary school education before 18, some a little over 16. What will such students be doing? Devil finds work for an idle hand.
“We were asked to touch our ears and be up to six in those days. Now, both parents have to work to fend for their families and that is why people take their wards to school early
“Apart from that, what about the gifted ones? It is like this policy is to draw back a section of the country. In many parts of the country, most children start school early.’’
Also reacting, the Deputy National President of the National Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN), Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, said they will challenge the matter in court.
“We have spoken to some lawyers on the matter, they said we should just be patient for the year 2025 to roll in. Around March next year, before WAEC and others start to conduct the SSCE, we will sue the government if they refuse to drop the policy. We will go to court because the minister wants to draw education back to the country.
“They simply want to kill knowledge and education in the country. They also want to kill the aspirations of parents to get their wards educated. It will mess up the education sector. Let them just leave the policy at 16 years.
‘’The world has changed and we must change with it. What do they want those who leave secondary school before 18 to do? The policy is simply not in tune with the reality of the times,” he stated.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU is, however, in support of the policy. National President of ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, speaking to Vanguard said;
“Let parents do the needful by putting their wards in school at six years. The children would be emotionally mature by 18 when they get to higher institutions
‘’It is the proliferation of private schools at all levels that is driving opposition to this policy. If the public schools are good for everyone, then those patronising private ones will reduce in number, “ he stated.
Asked what would happen to gifted children, Osodeke said the number in that category is not high.
“Regarding what those who pass out of secondary school before 18 would do, their parents should be responsible for that. If they rush them to school, they should make arrangements to take care of them before they move on to higher institutions, “ he added.