FG Sets New Age Limit For WAEC, NECO Exams, Check Out How & When This Will Be Enforced
The Federal Government has prohibited individuals under the age of 18 from taking part in the National Examinations Council and West African Examinations Council exams.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman disclosed this when he featured on Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics’ program on Sunday night.
Mamman explained that the federal government has directed WAEC, which conducts the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and NECO, which oversees the Senior School Certificate Examination to enforce the 18-year age requirement for candidates wishing to take these exams.
This, he said was not a new policy.
He added that the age limit for candidates sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, administered by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, remains set at 18 years.
He said, “It is 18 (years). 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.
“Even basically if you compute the number of years pupils, and learners are supposed to be in school, the number you will end up with is 17 and a half – from early child care to primary school to junior secondary school and then senior secondary school. You will end up with 17 and a half by the time they are ready for admission.
“So, we are not coming up with new policy contrary to what some people are saying; we are just simply reminding people of what is existing. In any case, NECO and WAEC, henceforth will not be allowing underage children to write their examinations. In other words, if somebody has not spent the requisite number of years in that particular level of study, WAEC and NECO will not allow them to write the examination.”
Just recently, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman has decided to return to the previous rule of allowing students as young as 16 years to apply for admission into universities and other tertiary institutions.
This change came after protests from various stakeholders during a Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) policy meeting in Abuja on Thursday.
Stakeholders, including Vice Chancellors and Rectors, argued that setting the minimum age at 18 was too high.
Education Minister Backtracks, Accepts 16 Years Admission Age for Universities
They pointed out that many students under 18 had already taken exams, unaware that they would be ineligible under the new rule.
In response to these concerns, Mamman acknowledged the validity of the stakeholders’ arguments and agreed to lower the minimum age to 16 for the 2024 admissions only. After this year, the minimum age will return to 18.
Additionally, Mamman mentioned that the government is considering making 18 years the standard entry age for universities and other tertiary institutions in the future.
This decision marks a reversal from Mamman’s earlier statement in April, where he had proposed 18 years as the minimum age requirement for admission.
Adeyemi Adaramodu, the chairman of the senate committee on media and publicity, says the minimum age for university admission in Nigeria remains a matter to be legislated upon.
According to ThisDay, the senator, in an interview with a group of journalists, declared that nothing would be done on the minimum age requirement for admission into tertiary institutions until stakeholders in the education sector push for a bill.
Tahir Mamman, the minister of education, earlier stated that the minimum age for admission into Nigerian higher institutions is 18.
The minister spoke about the matter while assessing the conduct of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Abuja.
Mamman had expressed concern that parents are pressuring their wards at ages 15 and 16 to gain admission into tertiary institutions.
He said admission should not be given to candidates below 18 since Nigeria operates the 6-3-3-4 education system.
But in a reaction interview, Adaramodu said comment on the minimum age requirement for admission would remain an opinion at best.
“By the time the senate resumes, whoever wants to bring that one out to make it a law will now bring it and then the procedures will take place. You can bring whatever to the floor in the form of a bill. There’s going to be a public hearing,” he was quoted as saying.
“All the stakeholders will sit down and talk about it. Parents, teachers, legislators, civil society organisations, and foreign organisations.
“We will sit down and we talk. Even if they say that the minimum age should be 30 or 12, we will all discuss it at an open forum. So it’s still a comment which cannot be taken to be the law.”
The senate spokesperson dismissed insinuations that the minister of education had instructed the leadership of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) not to release results of applicants below 18 years.
“There is nothing like that. When the prospective student bought their forms, there were no such conditions,” he added.
“So when you have bought your forms under one condition, that condition cannot be initiated along the line until the current set of candidates have been successfully attended to.
“When the next engagement is to take place, then if it is brought even as an executive bill or personal or private bill or the public brings it as a bill, the National Assembly will now sit down and then allow it to go to the crucible of lawmaking.
