- Professor Tahir Mamman, Nigeria's Minister of Education, announced that underage students will no longer be allowed to take secondary school leaving exams
- Age restriction will be enforced starting in 2025, with only individuals aged 18 and above being eligible to write secondary school leaving certificate exams
- For 2024, JAMB (Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board) will admit students who are below the age of 18, but from 2025, the age requirement will be strictly enforced, Mamman declared
The Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman said underage students will no longer be permitted to sit for secondary school leaving certificates such as West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO).
Tahir Mamman declared that from 2025 onward, only individuals aged 18 and above will be eligible to take these exams, adding that the policy had been longstanding and was not a new measure he had introduced.
Maman discloses JAMB will not admit under-18 students from 2025
This was disclosed in an interview with Channels TV in Abuja on Sunday, August 25. The Minister 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,” He stated.
NECO and WAEC will no longer allow under-18 to sit for exams, Mamman
The Minister of Education further said, “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.” Professor Tahir Mamman stated.
JAMB gives varsities, other institutions 1 month to disclose illegal admissions
Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) gave all tertiary institutions in the country one month to disclose all admissions conducted outside its Central Admissions Processing System, CAPS, before 2017.
According to the report, some institutions continue to admit candidates outside CAPS and seek Condonement of Undisclosed Illegal Institutional Admissions (CUIIA).