FG Reverses Policy, Approves 16-Years As Entry Age For Tertiary Institutions
…Promises to align education to needs of Nigerians
BY NGOZI NWANKWO, ABUJA – In a bid to align education system to the needs of Nigerians, the Federal Government has reversed the controversial 18-year entry age for university education to 16- year.
The new Minister of Education, Dr. Morufu Alausa, who announced this while briefing journalists upon assuming office on Tuesday, November 6, 2024 in Abuja, noted that what led to the initial decision was the way the National Policy on Education was designed.
Alausa said; “We will not be going forward with the 18-years admission benchmark. We will go with 16 years and we are going to meet with JAMB and others on that. There will also be exception for the gifted students. 18-years is not part of our policy again”.
The Minister said the policy was detrimental to the federal government’s efforts to reduce the number of out-of-school children in the country and was not sustainable for the education sector.
While promising to study and review the newly established curriculum to reflect the needs of Nigeria, Alausa stressed the resolve of the government to redirect focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
He said Nigerian government would invest heavily on vocational to help students development skills for employability.
In his words; “We will get private sector, artisans for the vocational training. In fact, Nigeria education will invest heavily on vocational”.
Reacting to the Out-of- School children, Alausa said the ministry has created a benchmark on how to tackle the challenges of Out-of-School children and assured that the Ministry of Education will collaborate with its Humanitarian Affairs counterpart to provide conditional cash transfers as incentives for students to increase school enrollment.
Alausa noted that nutritional programmes would be introduced to support students’ health, thereby enhancing human capital development.
The Minister said the withdrawal of certificates obtained from Benin Republic and Togo remains as it would help eliminate fake certificates from the system.
Speaking on finding lasting solution to the struggles between Tertiary institutions unions and the federal government, the Minister assured that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led government will meet all the agreements with unions of Tertiary institutions to end incessant strikes.
