Age limit of 18 years for university admission, toxic, retrogressive – Apugo, ex-Abia lawmaker

Former Member of Abia State House of Assembly, Hon. Chukwudi Apugo in this interview criticizes the Federal Government’s recent policy of raising the age limit for admission into tertiary institutions to 18 years, describing it as anti-people policy.

By Steve Oko

What is your view on the recent policy of the Minister of Education to raise the age limit for admission to tertiary institutions to 18 years?

To me, that policy is unwise and anti-people. It is retrogressive and may not have any positive impact on the education system. In fact, it can do more harm than good to the system. The education sector is so crucial that you do not introduce hostile or retrogressive policies into it, otherwise you will endanger the future of our children.

Even though you need to implement such a policy, it should not happen automatically. You give yourself a few years to sensitize stakeholders and convince them of its desirability. I’m not sure if they took into account the fate of some students who are now graduating from high school at the age of 16. What do they expect from such people? Maybe laze at home for two years and wait until they turn 18 before seeking college admission? That doesn’t sound logical. This policy will unfortunately interrupt the educational and academic journey of our youth.

Why is the minister even considering such a retrogressive policy? Why is the age of students seeking admission into tertiary institutions the only problem in the education sector? Only in Nigeria do children get married at the age of twelve but are not allowed to go to university at the age of fifteen on the pretext of being a minor.

What do you think are the adverse consequences of the policy?

The negative consequences of the policy are great. The mental trauma of intelligent students who have already met all the requirements for university admission at the age of 15/16 is great. Some of these children score over 300 in JAMB with excellent O’Level results. Some even form nine or eight Alphas in WAEC at such a young age. What is the justice in denying such brilliant students access to university based on their age, while allowing older students with lower grades?

Do you know that this kind of policy can lead some of these children to join internet fraudsters or other criminal gangs while they have to wait an extra two or three years before they reach the minimum age for college admission? Some may never continue with their teaching career if they make easy money with ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ or other get-rich-quick schemes.

That is why I call on the President to intervene quickly and call the minister to order. There are so many challenges in the education sector that we expect from him. This certainly does not include the age limit for admission to tertiary institutions. Mr President must act quickly to prevent chaos in the education system and society as a whole. This policy should be suspended. I do not see that this provides a desirable solution to the range of problems facing the education sector

But do you think the minister should have had his way without the minister’s approval?

I am not sure Mr. President has been properly briefed on the implications of this toxic policy. I suspect the president has been misled. The question is: what interest will this policy serve? Is it national or parochial interest? What is the real motive? Was this born out of patriotism or was a particular group targeted? These questions beg for sincere answers.

To me, age should not be used as a barrier for our brilliant teenagers seeking admission into tertiary institutions in this age of global competition. I do not consider minors as a challenge to our education sector because even students at the age of 15 and 16 have achieved superlative academic results both in O’Level and in Unified Matriculation Examination (UME) conducted by the Joint Admissions Matriculation (Board JAMB).

Importantly, I believe that the proponents of this policy failed to consider the issue of the incessant strike action plaguing our university system. It is unfortunate that, due to the constant disruptions caused by strikes, even those who were admitted to university at the age of 19 are taking two or three years longer before graduating. Then imagine what will be the fate of students when they sit for O’Level at the age of 18, before they start talking about JAMB. Also remember that some students take these exams three or more times before even meeting the minimum requirements that could gain them entry into tertiary institutions. Guess what the age of our youth will be before they enter college and graduate, and then face the question of employment. Why should the government increase their burden through unwise policies?

I would like to draw the attention of the Federal Government to what is happening now with regard to these admission seekers under the age of 16. The universities are denying them admission claiming that JAMB has not released their results to them. The issue then is, why will JAMB collect money from them when it sees their age and allows them to sit for the exam in which they scored very high, and now refuse to release their results to universities? Why will they participate in WAEC and get high grades and be denied entry based on age? The Federal Government said the new policy would not affect those who had already written the last UTME and SSCE, but they should find out what is happening in the universities now. These millions of candidates are now being denied access. The federal government must intervene immediately because these candidates are going through mental trauma and depression.

Actually, I don’t know what the minister wants to achieve by introducing this policy at a time when our country is going through a lot of hardship and economic trauma. It increases the problem of parents.

Part of the excuse given by the policy’s proponents was that some underage students in tertiary institutions find it difficult to cope with the academic workload. Don’t you find that convincing enough?

No. I do not consider that a sufficient excuse to prevent intelligent students under the age of 18 from gaining admission to university. The university system has a way of taking care of students who can’t cope. By the way, has the minister not seen the so-called minors who are breaking academic records? Are only those who cannot cope seen?

Do you believe that the National Assembly has done enough or should have taken any action to checkmate the minister?

Unfortunately, the National Assembly has done nothing to stop the implementation of these anti-people policies. It is quite appalling that the same National Assembly has the time to talk about or invite “Bobriscky” and “VeryDarkMan” when a national issue like this has not received the necessary legislative attention.

The National Assembly should not abandon its supervisory functions. It cannot be passive while such policies are shoved down the throats of Nigerians. I want the members to come in and save the situation. They should hold a town hall meeting with their constituents to gauge their views and the views of stakeholders in the education sector before allowing the implementation of this policy.

I also want the state governments to participate because education is on the list. The Federal Government alone should not be allowed to formulate all policies in the sector. That was how someone in the past very controversially removed history from the primary and secondary school curriculum. Today, I don’t know how much we as a country have benefited from such a suspect policy.

The constitution stipulates that a child must have the right to education. Why would we now use policies or age limits to deprive the child of his right to education? Some of them may lose interest in education if you put such a barrier in front of them. Children should be able to continue their academic pursuits as long as their heads can support it.

What is your advice to parents, and what do you think is the way forward?

Parents should not remain silent, but stand up against this by working with the government and relevant stakeholders. I also appeal to the Ministry of Education to listen to the arguments against the policy and see reasons to review it in the best interests of the country.