Age Limit For WAEC, NECO: Education At The Crossroads

BY AWELE OGBOGU

MANY have wondered if the 18-year age limit for school certificate exams is another plot to divert attention From the myriad of problems confront­ing the country.

According to a source, at first it was the new National Anthem and other strange policies, now the federal gov­ernment is at it again with a directive that for any student to register for WAEC and NECO exams, they should be at least 18 years.

Hence, the pertinent question is whether the FG is target­ing the more educationally developed South with its attempt to limit the country’s admission age to 18 years which is unheard of in any part of the world.

In Asaba, The Pointer gathered from a well-known edu­cationist and private school proprietor, Mr. Isaac Okonji that there is more to the age limit than the FG has admitted. “For whatever reason or reasons, the Federal Government’s new plan to bar candidates under the age of 18 from writing examinations conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC), the National examination Council (NECO) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is retrogressive and is meant to slow down the South.”

When reminded that President Bola Tinubu is from the South, he replied that “the president was first to forget that he is from the South in his attempt to divert attention from the myriad of national challenges that he is responsible for.

The policy has not gone down well with many Nigerians, including stakeholders and agencies in the education sector. Minister of Education, Prof. Mamman Tahir, who dropped the bombshell when he appeared recently on a television programme, said the Federal Government has directed WAEC and NECO to enforce the 18-year age requirement for the candidates. He had last month told Nigerians that, as from next year’s admission exercise, candidates below 18 years will not be allowed to write the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by JAMB. “For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a new policy. This is a policy that has been there for a long time. 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 half, from early child care to primary school, to junior secondary school and then to senior secondary school. You will end up with 17 and half years by the time they are ready for admission,” the minister explained.

The retrogressive and obnoxious age policy has attracted many criticisms from politicians, parents, Nigeria Union Teachers (NUT), the National Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN), the West African Examination Council (WAEC) the Congress of University Academics (CONUA) and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Former Vice President and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar, said the policy belongs to Stone Age era and a barrier to scholarship.

According to the former VP, “the recent policy of the Federal ministry of Education pegging age limits for entry to tertiary institutions is an absurdity and a disincentive to scholarship. The policy runs foul of the notion of delineation of responsibilities in a federal system of government such as we are practicing, and gives a graphic impression of how the Tinubu administration behaves like a sailor on a high sea.”

While the NUT said it will draw education back, con­cerned parents said they will challenge the decision in court. On its part, CONUA moved for a meeting of stakeholders in the education sector. While WAEC is yet to respond, ASUU through its National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, endorsed the policy. According to him, “let parents do the needful by putting their wards in school at six years. The children would be emotionally matured by 18 when they get to higher institutions.” He also argued that ‘it is the proliferation of private schools at all levels that is driving opposition to this policy. If the public schools are good for everyone, then those patronizing private ones will reduce in number.”

While some level of emotional and psychological ma­turity is expected at every level of education, there is a place for gifted and prodigious learners in most countries’ education policy. What the federal government is planning to do will negate the place of gifted children in our educa­tion system and deny them of admission to universities. Furthermore, there is no uniform age for maturity for all learners. Learners exhibit individual differences at every level of the teaching/learning process. Both in physical, biological and emotional maturity, these differences are equally manifested.

Who told the federal government that every child will be ready for university education at the age of 18 years? While some bright individuals may exhibit such readiness even before age 18, there are late bloomers who will do so at 20 or even more years. The difference in learners is why there are individualized teaching methods in some countries such as the United States (US) and others. There is even no empirical or sociological study to back the government’s 18 years policy. There are people who became professors at the age of 25 or even less. There are others who achieve the same feat at 50 or 60 years.

The government should know that while JAMB did not prescribe any age requirement for UTME, the senate of each university is at liberty to peg its admission age. For now, the admission age in most Nigerian universities is 16. Few others admit those below that age. Foreign universi­ties admit people below 14 years. With this policy, are we moving front or backward? Is this how we shall catch up with other developed nations? The government’s new age limit for taking WAEC, NECO and JAMB examinations is antediluvian and must be discarded forthwith. There is nothing ennobling about it. It has no redeeming features or attributes. It will encourage education tourism by affluent Nigerians. The policy is anti-people and targeted at poor Nigerians who cannot foot the bill of sending their children abroad for education. After all, the children of the political elites don’t attend schools in Nigeria. It is highly discrimina­tory because it has no room for gifted and bright learners.

The new policy will not produce geniuses and exceptional learners. It is not even part of the nation’s educational objectives as enshrined in Section 18 (1) (2) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). Section 18 (1) provides that “government shall direct its policy towards ensuring that there are equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels.” Section 18 (2) “states that government shall promote science and technology and 18 (3) provides that government shall strive to eradicate illiteracy; and to this end government shall as and when practicable provide- (a) free, compulsory and universal primary education; (b) free university education; and (c) free adult literacy programme.”

These form part of the Fundamental Objectives and Di­rective Principles of State Policy enunciated in Chapter II of the Constitution, which the government should pursue with enough political and financial will. The minister of education should be troubled so much that Nigeria has no pragmatic roadmap to eradicate illiteracy, its free, compul­sory and universal primary education is in shambles, its promise to provide free university education and free adult literacy programme is in pipeline and even a tall dream that can never and will not be fulfilled.

In fact, the education sector is in tatters and in total disarray. The problem of the education sector is not the entry age to write WAEC, NECO and JAMB, it is squarely poor funding, inadequate infrastructure, manpower and equipment. Is the minister aware that Nigeria has over 20 million out-of-school children? Does the minister know that Nigeria is suffering from acute teacher shortage at all levels of the education system, more especially at the Universal Basic Education (UBE) level?

It is worth stating that most of the best candidates in WAEC, NECO and JAMB examinations are under 18 years or slightly above. The minister should know that many children learn under the trees in many states across the country and classrooms not fit to be piggery with broken roofs, walls, doors and windows and without chairs and desks. Since education is on the concurrent legislative list, the federal government lacks the power to prescribe a uniform age for qualification to write exams conducted by WAEC, NECO and JAMB.

Okonji said “it should also be reminded that WAEC is an examination body that caters for the entire West Africa and not entirely owned by Nigeria even though Nigeria funds it substantially. There is need for a national emergency on the education sector so that the issues affecting the sector will be holistically addressed. Let government address the brain drain in the education sector and stop chasing shadows over age limit for writing WASSCE and other examinations.The Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, was among the first to fault the Federal Gov­ernment’s decision to bar students under 18 from writing examinations conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO), and as well gaining admission to universities in the country.

The renowned Afe Babalola, who said that the new policy is unacceptable and retrogressive, cautioned the government against using its policies to retard growth and pursuit of young citizens who would provide solutions to a myriad of challenges confronting the nation. “I am not shocked that no Nigerian was named among the young achievers in the world. This is because there are strategic policies that suspend the laudable achievements of brilliant young minds till later ages. The proof of this assertion is all around us. You don’t just go out as a Minister of Education to direct universities against the university’s autonomy as to who to admit or who not to admit. The university must decide to exercise its discretion and you can’t take that discretion from them”.

Recall that the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mam­man, a name that is now synonymous with nightmare for many education stakeholders, had in a recent television in­terview reiterated the federal government’s policy banning students under the age of 18 from enrolling for examina­tions that would guarantee them access to higher education. It means that President Bola Tinubu is in support of it and that is too bad! Is Tahir his tool to destroy education which is well sought-after where the president comes from.

Tahir had said the federal government directed WAEC and NECO to adhere to an 18-year age limit directive for every candidate to be admitted to the two examinations and insisting that the age limit for admission to a Nigerian university remains 18 years. Babalola: “Having a minimum age of admission into the tertiary institution rule that al­lows for no exception is a problematic position that will in the long run affect the dreams of the younger generations.

“To me, the issue of age is a matter of discretion for the university and let me say that we have been doing it here. We have students who came to ABUAD at 15 and graduated with First class at the age of 19 and we will continue to do it. “We do not forge with our own hands the chain that will hamper the development of our gifted children. The minimum age requirement should also give universities the discretion to admit children below the age of 16 who are endowed with exceptional ability.

“University autonomy includes among other things the discretion to waive the minimum age requirements for students who pass the minimum admission requirements and possess exceptional academic potentials. This is as obtainable in the UK, Australia, Norway and South Korea. “It should not be within the competence of the Federal Govern­ment to direct that students of certain ages are disqualified from entering into tertiary institutions after they have met all other admission requirements.” The ABUAD Chancellor quoted the American psychologist, Elaine Aaron, to have once said ‘What could we need more right now than people who think carefully, feel deeply, notice the subtle details, and end up having the big picture?’

Babalola added that “these four qualities are essential to nation-building. Age is not one of them, neither is it a requirement to obtain any of them. Maturity is not a func­tion of age. Rather, it is a function of the mindset, emotional intelligence, and the ability to understand oneself and the world.

“Maturity is earned from training of the mind, not by age. Consequently, people become adults by the way they think, act, or relate with others and the world they live in. So we have children who have defied all odds and achieved even the seemingly impossible.”

Again, the 2023 PDP Presidential candidate of the Peo­ples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s Federal Government for the 18- year age limit on NECO and WAEC exams, calling it absurd and a barrier to scholarships. He questioned the rationale behind the Federal Government banning of student below 18 from participating in the NECO and WAEC exams. The latter was revealed by the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, during his appearance at a Channels Television ‘ Sunday Politics’ programme. Mamman had stated that the federal government has instructed WAEC, responsible for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, and NECO, which administers the Senior School Certificate Examination, to enforce the 18-year age requirement for candidates taking these exams.

In response, the former Vice President took to his veri­fied Facebook page on Wednesday to criticize the policy as outdated. Atiku labeled the policy as controversial and called for universal condemnation from those who value intellectual freedom and accessibility. He stated, “Tinubu’s policy on age limit for tertiary education admission belongs in the Stone Ages. “The recent policy of the Federal Min­istry of Education pegging age limits for entry to tertiary institutions is an absurdity and a disincentive to scholar­ship. “The policy runs foul of the notion of delineation of responsibilities in a federal system of government such as we are practising, and gives a graphic impression of how the Tinubu government behaves like a lost sailor on a high sea.

To be clear, the Nigerian constitution puts education in the concurrent list, in which the sub-national government enjoys more roles above the Federal Government. Atiku also highlighted that the most effective global approach is to allow states to establish their education laws or regula­tions. Therefore, it is extra-constitutional for the federal government to legislate on education like a decree.

“The best global standard for such regulation is to al­low the sub-national governments to make respective laws or rules on education. “It is discouraging that even while announcing this obnoxious policy, the government inadvertently said it had no plan to cater to specially gifted pupils. That statement is an embarrassment to the body of intellectuals in the country because it portrays Nigeria as a country where gifted students are not appreciated.

“The irony here is that should the federal government play any role in education, it is to set up mechanisms that will identify and grant scholarships to gifted students not minding their ages before applying for admission into ter­tiary institutions. “This controversial policy belongs in the Stone Ages and should be roundly condemned by everyone who believes in intellectual freedom and accessibility.”