The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has announced that candidates under 16 may be considered for admission into tertiary institutions if they score 80% or higher in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.
Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, JAMB Registrar made the disclosure at a meeting with critical stakeholders comprising Chief External Examiners (CEEs), Chief Technical Advisors (CTAs) and Equal Opportunity Group (EOG) in Abuja on Monday.
Oloyede said the board would identify the few gifted students and allow them to take the university entrance examination.
But such candidate, the registrar said, must score at least 80 per cent in UTME, the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC), post-UTME, or the General Certificate Examination (GCE) Ordinary Level.
In a bulletin issued yesterday in Abuja by the board’s Public Communication Advisor, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, the registrar insisted that JAMB would enforce the minimum entry age requirement into tertiary institutions.
“This is, however, with a proviso that exceptional candidates may enjoy waivers, even if they are below 16 years, provided they score the 80 per cent in the four examinations stated in our advertisement,” the bulletin said.
According to the bulletin, the meeting with the stakeholders was meant to prepare for this year’s UTME registration, review past performances, and discuss issues about the upcoming examination.
Oloyede explained that the national minimum admissible age remains 16, adding that any candidates below 16 years by September would not be considered for admission.
He added: “This is about complying with the law; age has a lot to do with maturity in terms of what you do. Age can’t be discarded. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be prescribing that before you can become a local government chairman, you must have attained a certain age, or even a child of five or 10 years could aspire to that office.
“Biological age has a lot to do with the development of the intellect. There are so many things that have been said, but there are exceptions to the rule, and you must allow for such exceptions.
“The Honourable Minister of Education mentioned it clearly when he assumed office that the minimum age for admission would be 16. But we are also aware that there are gifted children, and they are few. These gifted children can’t be dismissed like that. We will have to identify them and allow them to take the exam.
“Now, the question is about identifying them. There are so many criteria we will look at, if you’re under 16 and you’re exceptional. First, your records should show that you’re exceptional. If you take UTME, for instance, and you score 200 out of 400, how do you call yourself an exceptional candidate? But if you score 80 per cent, that is giving us a signal that, ‘Oh, this person is really exceptional.’”
“If a candidate under 16 scores 200 out of 400 in the UTME, can they truly be considered exceptional? However, if they achieve 80% (320/400), that signals exceptional ability and warrants consideration,” he added.
The registrar also lamented that private universities encourage underage admission and, in most cases, 80 per cent of their intakes end up being migrated to other programmes owing to poor standing.
He further noted that the Board is not unaware of these sharp practices that parents perpetrate to alter the age of their wards for the purpose of admission and on graduation, they apply for a reduction of that same age to enable their wards undergo the one-year mandatory service of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
