Parents have expressed divergent views on the recent announcement by the Federal Government limiting the minimum age of candidates suitable to sit for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination (UTME) to 18 years.
While some showed support, saying the policy is long overdue for implementation, many others condemned it in its entirety, saying it’s absolutely retrogressive for a country like Nigeria.
Recall that the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, had announced that from next year’s admission, students who are below 18 years old would no longer sit for any of the secondary school terminal exams such as WASSCE or NECO or UTME, let alone be considered for university admission in the country.
According to him, the government wants to enforce its 6-3-3-4 educational policy, which has been on for over three decades, putting the period a child should enrol in primary school at six and to complete primary education at 12, junior and senior secondary education at 15 and 18 years respectively, and then proceed for higher education for a minimum of four years depending on courses of study.
Reacting to this development, the national president of the Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria (PTA), Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, expressed strong support for the policy, saying it is truly an old (and not a new) policy that the government is now ready to enforce.
He told the Nigerian Tribune in an exclusive interview that the policy is what he, as an individual and also on behalf of parents, generally has been canvassing for many years.
He recalled the period in April this year when he suggested to the government to co-opt all the three major examining bodies in the country if the policy is to be effective, and that this newspaper reported the suggestion extensively then.
“So, I will commend the Federal Government for having yielded to the suggestion by now carrying those exam bodies along with the policy,” he said.
According to him, parents, who rush their children’s education, are mostly the rich and the educated ones, who can afford to send their children to private schools, which usually admit underage children without considering their emotional maturity.
He emphasised that children need to be emotionally mature so as to be able to cope in the university, where they are expected to live independently.
Another parent, Mrs Mariachukwu Tata, is also in support of the policy, saying there is no point rushing children to acquire knowledge that is not meant for their ages.
According to her, there are various stages of life a child will need to pass through based on age before adulthood, and pumping one stage to another will not help such a child or even society, if not now but later.
Holding a contrary view, some parents, under the aegis of Concerned Parents and Educators (CPE), led by Mrs Yinka Ogunde, CEO of Edumark Consult, condemned the age restriction, calling on the Federal Government to reassess the stance and reverse it.
In a statement made available to the Nigerian Tribune, the group warned the federal government of the long-term consequences of the policy for the youth and the society at large.
According to the group, the government should realise that hundreds of thousands of students who will be affected by the policy may find themselves idling on the streets for an extended period of two to three years, merely awaiting the chance to sit for an examination that could shape their futures.
While suggesting that the policy should have captured children from foundational education and not terminal secondary school, the group urged the government to engage in dialogue with other stakeholders to devise a more balanced solution to Nigeria’s educational problems.
Similarly, the chairman of Parent-Forum, Lagos Public Schools, Deacon Olusoji Adams, decried the policy, describing it as totally ungodly and unfair.
He asked rhetorically if it is the age of students that will bring 24 hours of electricity supply to the campuses, fix the poor infrastructure in hostels and academic areas, or pay teachers their salaries as and when due.
He said the 16-year age limit in practice for long is ideal and should have been enforced rather than increasing it by two years.
He said most of these politicians’ children are studying abroad and at lower ages and wondered why they are making policies that are not applicable to them and their families.
Another parent, Mr Felix Olorunda, a security consultant, equally berated the government on the policy, saying it is barbaric for having such a thought in this 21st-century knowledge economy when children learn at high speed.
He said this government is fond of diverting people’s attention from real issues to petty ones.
According to him, people are no longer talking about the hardship they are going through to get fuel to buy in the market and food to feed their families, as they are now cleverly diverting their attention to a school-age limit, which should not even be an issue at all.
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