November 05, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has set the benchmark of tertiary education admission at 16 years, reversing the decision of the immediate past Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, who earlier raised the age to 18 years.
The new Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, stated this at his maiden press briefing in Abuja, on Tuesday
“We will not be going forward with the 18 years admission benchmark. We will go for 16 years, and we are going to meet with JAMB and others on that. There will also be exceptions for the gifted students. Eighteen years is not part of our policy again”, he said.
Addressing the withdrawal of certificates obtained from Benin Republic and Togo, Alausa stated that the policy would remain in place to help eliminate fake certificates from the system.
Regarding the out-of-school children issue, he noted this as a key priority for the ministry, adding that various solutions would be considered to reduce their numbers.
He said the ministry would collaborate with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to provide conditional cash transfers as incentives for students to increase school enrolment.
The Minister also said nutritional programmes would be introduced to support students’ health, thereby enhancing human capital development.
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