From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

The Federal Government has reversed the decision to restrict to 18 years the students’ age to write the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), and gain admission into university.

Newly appointed Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, made the announcement shortly after he resumed office at the Ministry’s headquarter in Abuja, yesterday.

He directed that the status quo should be maintained, meaning that students who are less than 18 years are now eligible to sit for the UTME and gain admission into universities.

He said even though age recommendations for admissions into universities might be contained in the national policy on education, certain things were considered before the reversal of the decision.

He said: “So, we will not be moving forward with the decision. We will go back to what we had in the past, which is 16 years. We will work out necessary modalities with JAMB and universities’ management to ensure that students who are 16 years old are allowed to gain admission into the universities. Eighteen years policy is no longer part of the education policy again.”

Immediate-past Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, in July, announced the enforcement of the age recommendations as contained in the national policy on education, which indicated that students who are less than 18 years, are ineligible to sit for the UTME or gain admission into universities.

The decision was, however, endorsed by heads of tertiary institutions in Nigeria at the 2024 policy meeting organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to herald the commencement of the 2024 admission year.

Prof. Tahir, at the meeting, said the enforcement would have commenced with the 2024 admission year, but for the protest and appeal by the institutions citing the fact that candidates were not informed about the development before the commencement of the 2024 UTME.

He insisted that the decision was in line with the recommendations of the national policy on education, thus directing that the enforcement starts fully in the 2025 admission year.

He said: “I have been a Vice Chancellor for seven years. I have firsthand information and I have seen how these underage students struggle to cope in several ways whenever they are pushed into the universities, prematurely.

“When I was monitoring the 2024 UTME, I was alarmed at the participation of large number of obviously under-age candidates in the examination, which necessitated my comment on the need to enforce the extant provisions of the educational policies which made provision for nine years of basic education and three years of senior secondary education, before entry into tertiary institutions.

“It’s clear that a child who, as expected, is enrolled in basic school at the age of six and having undergone 12 years of education, would be around 18 years old when being enrolled in a tertiary institution.

“Subsequent information revealed that the enrollment of underage candidates is inflicting serious damage on the university and the education system, hence, the need for enforcement of extant rules.

“I have also been informed about the surge in applications for immediate requests for a change of age to reflect higher age in anticipation of the imminent enforcement of the age policy. This again, reflects dangerous games being played with the life and future of innocent children by those expected to nurture them.

“Flowing from this, JAMB has been instructed to admit only eligible students i.e those who have attained 18 years. Universities are also advised to avoid recommending unqualified children for admission.”