Cheering news has come the way of underage candidates with the introduction of a mock Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board for students below the age of 16.
However, the JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, while dropping the hints on Sunday at a meeting with media executives in Lagos, explained that the mock UTME is not for tertiary institution admission but only to assist underage candidates seeking to test their ability.
Prof Oloyede, who also used the occasion to announce that this year’s UTME will take place on March 8, 2025, said; “We are starting the sale of forms on the 31st of January till the 5th of March. There will be a mock exam on the 23rd of February and on the 8th of March there will be UTME”.
The JAMB Registrar said the Board is introducing the mock trial-testing examination only this year, explaining that the arrangement is for individuals who would not qualify for admission into universities, polytechnics, or colleges of education because they are below the age of 16 years.
According to him, candidates must be 16 years old on or before September 30 to qualify for the UTME and secure admission into universities, polytechnics, or colleges of education, even as he added that candidates who do not desire admission for 2025 but wish to have CBT experience could register for the mock only for trial testing.
On the sale of Direct Entry application documents and e-PIN vending, the JAMB boss said the exercise would commence on March 10 and April 7, explaining further that those wishing to write UTME with mock would pay N8,200, the fee for UTME only (without mock) is N7,200 while trial-testing mock only (for underage or testing only) and direct entry candidate will attract a fee of N5,700.
Maintaining that the Board is set to enforce the 16-year age limit for this year’s UTME registration, Prof Oloyede said only gifted candidates below 15 years old would be allowed to register while qualification to secure admission as an underage, the candidate must score not less than 280 marks in UTME and perform exceptionally in its senior secondary certificate and post-UTME examinations.
He said, “The policy meeting on admission adopted 16 years as the minimum for 2024 admission. JAMB tried to assist by extending the date to accommodate more candidates, but we were taken to court to reverse the extension to 16 years”.
For the 2025 UTME, Prof Oloyede disclosed that 870 computer-based test centres had been screened and provisionally listed for the exercise as against the 747 centres approved in 2024.
Recalled that widespread criticisms had trailed former Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman’s announcement last year that only candidates aged 18 and above would be admitted into tertiary institutions in the country.
The scathing criticisms by Nigerians forced the Federal Government to backtrack on the decision with Mamman’s successor, Dr Tunji Alausa, suspending the 18-year admission benchmark for the nation’s tertiary institutions in November 2024.
