Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, has waved the 18 years benchmark for admission into tertiary institutions.
At an on-going policy meeting organised by the Joint Admission Matriculations Board (JAMB) in Abuja, Mamman had announced that only applicants who were 18 years and above were eligible for admission.
The Minister’s declaration was however met with instant resistance from the packed hall of stakeholders representing tertiary institutions nationwide, forcing him to pause his address.
The session turned rowdy, with the Minister asking, “Are we together?” only to be met with a resounding “No!” from the crowd. Undisturbed, the Minister continued his explanation for the new benchmark, but the uproar persisted.
It took the intervention of JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, to restore order with his plea: “Please! attention please!”
While reacting to the grumblings from the participants, he insisted that the law required that their children should be in school at 18 years, having attended six years in primary school, three years in Junior Secondary School and three years in senior secondary school.
The Minister noted that the meeting was to ensure that the process of admission for 2024/2024 was fair.
He said the position of the Federal Ministry of Education had not changed from any institution that does admission outside the right process, which is Central Application, Process (CAP).
One of the participants who did not want to be named said: “That is not possible, how can a child finish school write WAEC and JAMB and passed and you deny him admission?”
But the Minister later accepted the suggestions of the stakeholders that from 16 years and above should be eligible for this year’s admission while the law would apply from next year.
The annual policy meeting is held to authorise the commencement of admission into tertiary institutions in the country and adopt certain admission benchmarks.
