The Nigeria Union of Teachers has condemned the Federal Government’s decision to ban under-18 candidates from sitting for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and the National Examination Council, even as the Academic Staff Union of Universities backed the policy.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, announced on Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics’ programme that the Federal Government had instituted a new age policy for secondary school leaving examinations, setting the minimum age at 18.
This means underage candidates will no longer be allowed to sit for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and the Senior School Certificate Examination, both crucial for advancing to tertiary education.
The directive also affects the West African Examinations Council, which administers the WASSCE, and the National Examinations Council responsible for the SSCE. Additionally, Mamman confirmed that the age limit to undertake the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, overseen by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, will also be 18.
He added that this was not a new policy.
“For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a new policy; this is a policy that has been there for a long time,” Mamman stated.
“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.
“So, we are not coming up with a 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.”
But the Secretary-General, NUT, Dr Mike Ene, in an interview, said that changes in society, like early enrollment in crèches due to economic pressures, made it unrealistic to restrict learning based on age.
He added that exceptional students, who might be younger but academically advanced, were not considered in the policy, warning that the policy could lead to legal challenges and urged the government to rethink it, calling it poorly conceived.
“You also have to consider exceptional students. Some students are 16 years old in SS3. Is the minister taking these scenarios into account? What are these students supposed to do? Wait two more years? I see this as a policy that could lead to numerous legal challenges. The government needs to rethink this thoroughly. It is poorly conceived.”
Also speaking, National President, ASUP, Mr Shammah Kpanja, maintained that the decision to allow students under 18 to sit for exams should depend on their abilities, saying that gifted students might not need to spend the full years in school.
He advised the government to focus on critical issues like providing functional equipment in schools, addressing infrastructure deficits and improving teachers’ welfare, rather than on exam age restrictions.
