FG orders Tertiary institutions to stop admitting students below 18 years
The Federal Government has ordered institutions to stop giving admission to students who are below 18-years-old. This new development was announced on Monday by the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman while monitoring the ongoing 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Bwari, Federal Capital Territory.
He had noticed that parents were pressuring their underage wards to gain admission into institutions and the only way to stop this is to enforce a new law preventing under-18 students from gaining admission. He stated that 18 years should be the benchmark for gaining admissions as it falls in line with the 6-3-3-4 Nigerian education system.
He also added, "The minimum age of entry into the university is 18, but we have seen students who are 15 or 16 years old going in for the entrance examination. Parents should be encouraged not to push their wards too much. Mostly, it is the pressure of parents that is causing this. We are going to look at this development because the candidates are too young to understand what the whole university education is all about."
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