The Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, has announced that candidates under the age of 18 will no longer be permitted to sit for secondary school leaving examinations in Nigeria.
This decision, aimed at enforcing the 18-year age requirement, was communicated during his appearance on Channels TV’s Sunday Politics programme.
According to Mamman, the Federal Government has instructed the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) to comply with the directive.
Effective immediately, only candidates who are at least 18 years old will be eligible to take the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE).
The minister also reaffirmed the age limit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), administered by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), stating that candidates must be 18 years or older to be eligible.
“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,” Mamman explained.
He emphasized that this is not a new policy but rather a reminder of existing regulations.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
