At a time Nigeria is struggling to address the challenge of over 20 million out-of-school children, it is absurd that the Federal Ministry of Education will come up with ill-advised policy of making 18 years mandatory for taking examinations conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO). The same policy will invariably apply for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The government should quickly rescind the anachronistic and antediluvian policy. It is archaic and therefore unacceptable. Instead of moving the education sector forward, it will draw it backward.
The new age policy being keenly promoted by the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, is inimical to gifted children and other brilliant students. At at a time some students graduate with First Class honours in some universities abroad, Mamman is recommending a uniform age to write WAEC/NECO exams as well as UTME. The ridiculous policy will further encourage education tourism and retard the progress of some brilliant students at home. Since the children of the rich and political class don’t even attend universities in the country, the age policy is targeted at poor Nigerians whose children make the list of best candidates in examinations conducted by WAEC, NECO and JAMB. In fact, most of these best candidates are below 18 years.
The minister should be reminded that there is no uniform maturity age for all pupils or students. While some mature before the age of 18, others may mature even beyond 18 years. The new age policy presumes that all students will mature at 18. That presumption is faulty and cannot pass an empirical test. It is therefore not objective. It is not just and fair to all students. The policy is not what Nigeria needs in a 21st century world. We need world-class schools and well-equipped schools with suitably qualified teachers.
Prof. Mamman had during a recent television interview disclosed that the Federal Government had directed WAEC and NECO to enforce the 18-year age requirement for candidates applying to take these examinations. He said the new policy was similar to the 18-year age limit for candidates sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
According to him, “What we did at the meeting that we had with JAMB (in July) was to allow this year and for it to serve as a kind of notice for parents that, this year, 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. For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a new policy; this is a policy that has been there for a long time.”
He explained that with the 6-3-3-4 education system in Nigeria, the number of years a student would end up with was 17 and a half – from early child care, primary, junior secondary to senior secondary education. Unfortunately, the calculation of the minister does not totally reflect today’s reality. The six-year age requirement to enter primary school has been relaxed by many schools, in keeping with the changing times. The minister’s calculation doesn’t also take into account the transformation in childhood education over the years. The recruitment of home teachers for pupils makes them more intelligent from a tender age. Also, the availability of teaching aids through the internet and computers has improved the cognitive abilities of today’s children, which wasn’t the case some decades ago.
Compared to the past, the age bracket of people entering primary school now has decreased from 6 to 4, which has made it faster for students to get to the final year of their post-primary education at a younger age. It is, therefore, unwise to delay gifted kids from sitting for examinations they are intellectually equipped to pass. This decision is retrogressive and doesn’t augur well for Nigerian students. Little wonder the Nigerian Union of Teachers has condemned this move. Its chairman, Dr. Mike Ene, said the changes in contemporary society, including early enrollment to creche by parents to enable them go to work or attend to their businesses, had made the ban unrealistic.
The government should not implement the policy because of the implications to the education sector. But since we have some 16-year maturing faster than their peers to sit for these exams, they should not be stopped from living their dreams. The Federal Government should not play into the hands of enemies of the state recruiting idle minds to worsen our security quagmire.
We also call on JAMB to revert to the 16-year age limit it originally fixed for students applying to enter the university or totally remove the age barrier. Universities should be allowed to fix their age requirements. It is never the duty of JAMB to do so. Let JAMB respect university autonomy. Instances abound of individuals in their 20s becoming professors, which would have been unthinkable in the past. The government should allow students to sit for these exams based on their abilities. This would be fair to all students with different academic abilities.