On a recent development, Prof. Tahir Mamman, the minister of Education has bowed to pressure after several protests from stakeholders at the ongoing policy meeting organized by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to revisit his decision and set undergraduate admission age at 18.
The minister who succumbed pressure from argument and protests that students under the age of 18 had already registered, sat and passed the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and were awaiting admission ordered Heads of tertiary institutions to admit candidates who are 16 years of age, gain admission into tertiary institutions of their choice.
The Vice Chancellor of Elizade University Prof. Kayode Thadius Ijiadunola led the motion and got massive support from other leads, registrar and admission officers that participated in the policy meeting, proposed 16 as the minimum age requirement for admission into Nigerian higher institutions.
According to Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, “What happens to those who have written this year’s exams and passed their exams? We reject 18 years as the minimum age requirement and are proposing 16 years?, While the hall erupted in support of 16 years as a minimum requirement, the JAMB Registrar asked, where parents and candidates were rushing to”?
“The only point is they have taken examinations and at that time they were not told or aware and therefore if we want to enforce it, it should be from subsequent years,” Prof Oloyede added.
Responding to this, the minister said “I can work with that but I want to remind you of one thing, even that argument cannot stand if we want to go by the law which states 6-3-3-4 as our system of education, it won’t stand but for practical reasons, for this year, I will allow it to stand.”
Amidst resounding applause, Prof Oloyede reaffirmed the minister’s decision, he added, “We thank the minister for conceding but from next year we will enforce it”.
Recall, the Minister of Education while delivering his address as chairman of the 2024 Joint Admissions Matriculation Board’s (JAMB) policy meeting on Education holding in Abuja on Thursday had called for enforcement of 18 years as the new minimum admission age for admission into Nigerian higher institutions.
Immediately after the Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman made the announcement, the stakeholders who turned out their members from across tertiary institutions in the country, voiced resistance which turned the session into a rowdy one.
The minister who was unable to proceed with his address as a result of the uproar, had asked “are we together?”
However, the stakeholders had responded with a resounding “No!
The minister who seemed unperturbed with the development, had continued with his address as he tried to give reasons for pegging the new admission benchmark at 18.
It took the intervention of the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, to restore order to the policy meeting with his plea of “Please pay attention please!”
The policy meeting on education is an annual event. It authorised the commencement of admission into tertiary institutions in the country.
More details to follow….
