Higher Institution Admission: Education rights activist calls for review of age eligibility policy

National Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign, Hassan Soweto, has asked the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, to review the policy barring under-18-year-olds admission into tertiary institutions.

“The Minister of Education should not drag us into a needless controversy,” he said on the Arise Television’s ‘Morning Show’ on Thursday morning.

Mr Soweto said only 20 per cent of candidates seeking admission into higher institutions of learning stand a chance of success.

“Reality is that you have, in this country, conditions that mean that even adults, even 25-year-olds, cannot even… finish their education. Then there is the challenge that I have seen; people enter the university at the age of 15, they don’t graduate until the age of 27, because of strikes,” he added.

“So, this is not a country that is working; it is only a working environment that this idea can become relevant.”

The minister explained that the policy was meant to address key issues surrounding the challenges faced by children who were not mature in tertiary institutions.

After receiving backlash from stakeholders at a policy meeting organised by the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) earlier in August, Mr Mamman conceded that the benchmark should be set at 16 years, however, the law would apply from 2025.

Debate by Experts

Former President, Reading Association of Nigeria, Gabriel Egbe, a professor, who joined in the discussion on the show, argued that research findings revealed that children who gained entry into tertiary institutions of learning at an early age had higher chances of dropping out of school.

Mr Egbe proposed that such research, carried outside Nigeria, should be replicated in Nigeria to guide the ministry in the necessary steps.

Meanwhile, Child Protection experts and former UNICEF consultant, Taiwo Akinlami who also appeared as a guest on the show, explained that there should be exceptions to the policy.

Mr Akinlami, who is also a lawyer, suggested that gifted children should be identified early and proposed the introduction of a policy to guide them for accelerated education.

“There is no preparation on the side of universities to attend to children that are entering at a younger age,” he said.

He added that it is no right to send a child of any age to higher institutions of learning just because the child is gifted.

READ ALSO: INVESTIGATION: Poverty, shambolic education system keeping children out of school in Niger State

“Even if the child is gifted we have to be concerned about child safeguarding issues relating to that,” he said.

He also advised that a period of transition should be considered to allow for adjustment before the policy takes full effect.