18-year admission benchmark reversal and the way forward

Tunji Alausa, the new minister of education, on Wednesday, announced that the federal government has abolished the 18-year admission benchmark into tertiary institutions in the country and that there is the possibility of reviewing Nigeria’s education policy.

“We will work with JAMB and our universities to ensure that people that are matriculating into our universities will arrive at 16 years.

“So, we will not be going with the 18 years; we will go back to what we have before which is 16 years,” Alausa said.

Recall that Tahir Mamman, the former minister of education had in July, directed the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, to admit only 18-year-old candidates into tertiary institutions.

Mamma said that the enrollment of underage candidates in the country’s tertiary institutions was seriously inflicting damage on both the university and the education system of the country.

With the recent development, it means that the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) will henceforth admit students below 18 years into tertiary institutions.

However, Nigeria’s education faces more foundational challenges that makes the 18-year age benchmark inconsequential.

The education sector enmeshed with challenges of inadequate funding, poor infrastructure, low quality of teaching, high level of corruption and lack of access to education especially in rural areas.

Speaking on what the country needs to develop its education, Izu Nwachukwu, a senior lecturer, at the University of Calgary, Canada said Nigeria’s current system of education is not ideal, and that the country needs a competency-based system of education.

“The 21st-century education is competence-based, where students learn to master their chosen careers through learning by practice system,” he said.

To navigate the murky water of underdevelopment, experts argue that Nigeria’s underdevelopment is linked to the lack of investment in human development and problems associated with educational reforms, such as; churning out graduates into the 21st-century knowledge economy which sees practicality of acquired knowledge as the utmost form of learning.

The country has the second highest number of unemployed youth in the world, a global youth unemployment index has shown. With 53 percent youth unemployment, the country is the world’s second worst.

Nigeria is ranked 163 in the United Nations (UN) Human Development Index for the second consecutive year according to the recent UNDP report.

Nigeria ranked 114th in the world and 14th among African countries in the Global Competitiveness Index Rankings update of 2022, revealing the country’s low level of productivity.

Read  also: JAMB reconsiders policy, extends U-16 admission deadline to 2025

Beyond age benchmark, Nigeria needs functional education system that will groom competent graduates that will be able to excel at the global workplace.

Reversing the university admission age without putting in place the needed infrastructure and personnel that will make the sector functional amounts to playing to gallery.

According to the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) report, “The unemployment rate stood at 5.3 percent in the first quarter of 2024, representing a third consecutive increase since the second quarter of 2023.

However, the underemployment rate fell from 12.3 percent in 2023 third quarter in 10.6 percent in 2024 quarter one.”

Nigeria’s unemployment and inflation rates rose to 36.9 percent in 2024 Q1 from 30.5 percent in 2023 Q3. Nigeria has one of world’s highest misery indexes, with many Nigerians experiencing a cost of living crisis, and weak purchasing power due to rising inflation.

Stakeholders believe that one cardinal avenue to address the surging unemployment in Nigeria is to have a functional education system that will ;prepare the youth for future workplace and also groom future entrepreneurs.

Rowland Nwanze, an educationist speaking on the recently reversed policy, said the reversal of the 18-year age admission benchmark by the same administration is all about playing to the gallery to achieve cheap political points.

“A child that starts primary one at age six, is expected to finish primary education at age 12 and conclude secondary school by 18 as obtainable in the National Policy of Education.

“They know that we have some deterioration in the education system, which they’re not ready to fix now.

The government is just after scoring some political points, and not necessarily for our good; what I see here is they’re saying, since the public kicked against the policy initially, let’s try and give them what they want,” he noted.

Olushola Babatunde believes the reversal of the age benchmark is a good step by the new minister, though he said maturity is not functional on biological age.

“I think it’s good because maturity is not necessarily in age, it’s more of an emotional thing. Obviously, learning needs a measure of emotional stability to assimilate lectures, but the way our government went about it leaves much to be desired,” he said.