The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, on Tuesday disclosed that Federal Government had reversed the 18-year admission age requirement recently set for admission into tertiary institutions in the country.
Alausa, who gave this hint during his maiden press briefing in Abuja, explained that initial decision was based on the design of the National Policy on Education
According to him, the federal government will not be going forward with the 18-years admission benchmark and has adopted 16 years as the age requirement for admission into tertiary institutions in the country.
The minister said the ministry would meet with JAMB and other agencies involved in admission of students into tertiary institutions, stressing that “there will also be exception for the gifted students. 18-years is not part of our policy again.”
On the withdrawal of certificates obtained from Benin Republic and Togo, he explained that the policy would remain in place to help eliminate fake certificates from substandard and unaccredited foreign institutions and ensure that Nigerian education standards remained globally recognized.
Alausa also spoke on the challenge of out-of-school children that the ministry considered it as a key priority with a view to proffering various solutions to reduce their numbers.
This is even as he disclosed that the ministry will collaborate with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to provide conditional cash transfers as incentives for students to increase school enrolment, and that nutritional programmes would be introduced into schools to support students’ health.
