FG To Reassess Minimum Admission Age Criteria For Varsities, Others

Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, announced on Monday that the Federal Government would explore the option of reassessing and setting the minimum admission age into tertiary institutions in the country at 18 years.

The Minister, who dropped the suggestion while overseeing the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Abuja, cautioned parents against exerting excessive pressure on their children and wards, encouraging them to grant them sufficient time to develop maturity for better self-management.

According to him, “The other thing which we notice is the age of those who have applied to go to the university. Some of them are really too young. We are going to look at it because they are too young to understand what a university education is all about.

“That’s the stage when students migrate from a controlled environment where they are in charge of their own 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, and 16, going to the examination. It is not good for us. Parents should be encouraged not to push their wards or children too much.”

The Minister, who commended the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for a seamless examination process, noted that the adoption of technology had helped in reducing the cases of examination practices.

“Right from screening to those who are here…the examination process is seamless. The environment is comfortable for students. That’s how it should be, especially the use of technology in our affairs and the educational system. It makes life easy for everybody and seamless.

“As we know this examination is going on throughout the country. It is being monitored everywhere seamlessly and from the report I have heard, the malpractice level is very low. Just a 100 out of the 1.2m. It has gone down drastically and believe that it is the use of technology that has made that happen so this is very good.”

Minister of State for Education, Dr. Tanko Sununu who was excited the UTME was also ongoing in Saudi Arabia as a result of the standards set by JAMB’s management, noted that the examination has transcended to a very high level of objectivity and reliability of results.

“Right from when the candidates arrive, they would be seated comfortably in the waiting room, screening and other necessary instructions will be given and they will proceed to do biometrics.