Minister of education, Tahir Mamman has updated the rule set forth for minimum admission age for tertiary institutions.
Gatekeepers News reports that the minister has directed Nigerian tertiary institutions to admit candidates from the age of 16 for the 2024 session.
This came a few hours after he directed that candidates seeking admission into universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education must be 18 and above from now on.
Mamman gave the directive at Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) 2024 policy meeting on Thursday.
The directive however gained disapproval from people of education stakeholders consisting of heads of tertiary institutions, registrars, and their admission officers.
The minister then stressed that the law required that children should be in tertiary institutions at 18 years, having attended six years in primary school, three years in junior secondary school, and three years in senior secondary school.
Subsequently, Mamman accepted suggestions from the stakeholders that candidates from 16 years and above should be eligible for 2024 admission.
However, according to him, the new policy will apply from next year.
JAMB also took to X to announce that candidates from 16 years and above will be considered for this year’s admission.
It added that from 2025, the entry age into tertiary institutions will be 18.
“Candidates who are 16 years old would be considered for admissions into tertiary institutions for the 2024 academic year, however, the entry age would be 18 years as from next academic year.”
