The National Parent- Teacher Association of Nigeria (NPTAN) has expressed support for the Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman’s recent pronouncement to peg the tertiary education admission age limit in Nigeria to 18 years instead of the current 16 years.
The national president of NPTAN, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, expressed his backing on this on Wednesday during an exclusive interview with Nigerian Tribune.
He, however, urged the Federal Government to co-opt the three major examining bodies in the country, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), and the National Examination Council (NECO) to make the proposal a policy that would work effectively.
He said the three examination bodies have significant roles to play on the matter.
He said parents, who rush their children’s education are mostly the rich and the educated ones, who can afford to send their children to private schools which usually admit underaged children without considering their emotional maturity.
Danjuma explained that for the minister of education to have aired his view again about the 18 years age limit for tertiary education admission is a way of reminding parents of the risk to rushing their children’s education.
He said the Federal Government should in that case, compel WAEC, NECO and JAMB to henceforth register only students, who are in the appropriate class and have attained the ages required for the examinations they are conducting.
He said, based on the national policy on education, each examination targets certain students at a specific level of education.
He said, for example, “NECO and the state government examination boards which conduct common entrance examinations into Federal Government colleges and other secondary schools for primary six pupils as applicable should no longer register pupils below 11 years and they must not be in terminal class and likewise, WAEC and NECO should not also register students who are below 17 years or in SSS3 class for the senior school exams.
Similarly, he suggested further that JAMB should not also register/allow students below 17 years to sit for its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
He pointed out that children need to be six-year-old to start primary school education and spend another six years before going to secondary school, where they will spend additional six years to reach age 18 to become fully matured to go to tertiary institutions where they are expected to live independently.