Education Minister Warns Parents Against Registering Underage Candidates For UTME

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman has stated that the ministry is going to look into cases of underage students who are being pushed by their parents to take the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination(UTME).

The minister who was speaking while monitoring this year’s examination at the Headquarters of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB) on Monday, stated that some of the candidates are too young to understand what tertiary education was all about.

He disclosed that 18 years was the entry age for tertiary institutions and warned parents to stop pushing their children who are not yet of age to tertiary institutions.

“The other thing which we notice is the age of those who have applied to go to the university. Some of them are really too young. We are going to look at it because they are too young to understand what university education is all about.

“That’s the stage when students migrate from a controlled environment where they are in charge of their own affairs. So if they are too young, they won’t be able to manage properly. That accounts to some of the problems we are seeing in the universities.

“We are going to look at that. Eighteen is the entry age for university. But you will see students, 15, 16, going to the examination. It is not good for us. Parents should be encouraged not to push their children too much,” he said.

Mamman however commended the JAMB for the level of technology it has introduced in the examination, adding that it has made the process seamless.

“That’s how it should be, especially the use of technology in our affairs and the educational system. It makes life easy and seamless for everybody,” he said.

He also expressed satisfaction over the drastic reduction of examination malpractices witnessed.

“From the report I have heard, the malpractice level is very low. Just a 100 out of the 1.2 million. It has gone down drastically and I believe that it is the use of technology that has made that happen so this is very good,” he said.

While speaking about access to tertiary education, the minister stated that only about 20 percent of the candidates will be admitted and stressed the importance of skill acquisition for youths who were not able to gain admission.

“The question you ask is where are the 80 percent? They are our children, our wards living with us. This is why the issue of skills acquisition is terribly important because any students who are not able to proceed to tertiary education, should be able to have a meaningful life even after primary education and secondary school.

“The only solution to that is skills; by taking skills right from the time they enter school, for the primary right through the educational trajectory, somebody should finish with one skill or another.

“That is part of the assumption of the 6-3-3-4. It is assumed that by the time a student finishes up to JSS level, he would have acquired some skills. If he does not proceed to senior secondary level, he would have acquired some skills that will help him navigate life and cease to be a burden on parents and society,” he said.