Underage candidates won’t write NECO, WAEC exams—FG
The Federal Government has said that it would no longer allow underage students to sit for secondary school leaving examinations.
The Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, made this known on a Channels Television programme: “Sunday Politics.”
According to the Minister, the Federal Government has instructed the West African Examinations Council, which administers the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, and National Examinations Council, the organiser of the NECO Senior School Certificate Examination, to comply with the directive from the next round of examinations.
Mamman said no one under the age of 18 would be allowed to sit for any of the examinations going forward.
He equally revealed that no student under 18 years would be allowed to sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.
“What we did at the meeting that we had with JAMB (in July) was to allow this year and for it to serve as a kind of notice for parents that this year, JAMB will admit students who are below that age, but from next year, JAMB is going to insist that anybody applying to go to university in Nigeria meets the required age, which is 18.
“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 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 new policies contrary to what some people are saying.
“We are just simply reminding people of what is existing.
“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.”
Mamman said early care is expected to last for the first five years, while pupils are expected to begin primary one at the age of six, spend six years in primary school and move to junior secondary school at the age of 12, where they spend three years before moving to senior secondary school at the age of 15 to spend three more years and leave for university at the age of 18.