By Kamsi Anayo
Awka, July 18, 2024
Prof. Tahir Mamman, Minister of Education, has given nod to the heads of tertiary institutions request for candidates of 16 years old to gain admission into higher institutions of their choice.
This followed the argument that students of under-18 years old had already registered, sat, and passed the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and awaiting admission.
Prof. Kayode Thadius Ijiadunola, Vice-Chancellor of Elizalde University, in a leading motion in the 2024 JAMB Policy annual stakeholders meeting on Thursday in Abuja had received overwhelming support from other tertiary institutions heads, registrars, and admission officers to the minimum of 16 years old age proposal.
“What happens to those who have written this year’s exams and passed their examinations? We reject 18 years as minimum age requirement and are proposing 16 years,” Ijiadunola said.
However, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, Registrar of the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB), asked where parents and candidates were rushing to.
“The only point is they have taken examination and at that time they were not told or aware and therefore if we want to enforce it, it should be from subsequent years,” Oloyede said.
Mamman had earlier 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.”
Reiterating the minister’s decision amidst resounding applause, Oloyede added: “We thank the minister for conceding but from next year we will enforce it.”
Earlier, the Minister in his address as chairman of the 2024 JAMB policy meeting, called for enforcement of 18 years as the new minimum admission age for admission into tertiary institutions in the country.
But the stakeholders who turned out in their numbers from across tertiary institutions in the country, voiced a 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!”
Mamma, who seemed unworried 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 Oloyede to restore order to the meeting with his plea of “Please attention please!”
The policy meeting on education is an annual event. It authorised the commencement of admission into tertiary institutions in the country.
