There is fear that many candidates that sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination this year may lose potential admission as the Federal Government has announced that only those who are 18 years old and above will be admitted to tertiary institutions.
They may, at least, have their admission deferred as the government said the rule would take effect from this year.
Such, and their parents, will hope that the government allow the process run through this year so that there will not be dislocation even in the system.
As ‘Frantalk’ reports, this 18-year directive was given on Thursday by the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, at the ongoing 2024 policy meeting in Abuja.
According to the him, this decision is in line with Nigeria’s law, which prohibits the admission of underage students to tertiary institutions.
He emphasised that no one should recommend anyone less than 18 years old for admission, stressing that this guideline must be strictly followed.
Many stakeholders may, however, worry that the invocation of the age criterion is coming in the middle of a year’s admission process.
This is as a lot of the admission seekers, who are usually younger than being specified, have already prosecuted the process to the point of awaiting admission.
Meanwhile, details of the declaration and the admission policy for the year are still to come.
