16-year-old candidates will be eligible for admission to tertiary institutions for the 2024 academic session, a move that marks a significant shift in the country’s education policy.
At the ongoing Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) policy meeting, a tumultuous reaction erupted from stakeholders and attendees as Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, announced a controversial new policy: only candidates who have reached the age of 18 will be eligible for admission into tertiary institutions.
The annual JAMB policy meeting brings together stakeholders from various tertiary institutions across the country to determine the suitable cut-off marks for admissions for the upcoming academic year.
The meeting also sets the tone for the year’s admission exercise and guidelines by which all institutions must admit students.
At the ongoing meeting, immediately after Mamman made the utterance saying only applicants who were 18 years and above were eligible for admission, the hall erupted in rowdiness.
In a move to calm frayed nerves, the Minister had asked, “Are we together?” to which the attendees chorused “No!”
It took the intervention of JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, before normalcy was restored.
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.
The Federal Ministry of Education maintains its stance that any institution conducting admissions outside of the official Central Application Process (CAP) will not be recognized.
However, after considering the feedback from stakeholders, the minister ultimately agreed to a compromise, allowing candidates aged 16 and above to be eligible for admission this year.
