FG to enforce 18-year age limit for WASSCE, NECO

The Federal Government has prohibited individuals under the age of 18 from taking part in the National Examinations Council and West African Examinations Council tests.

Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, disclosed this on a live programme.

He explained that the Federal Government had directed WAEC, which conducts the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and NECO, which oversees the Senior School Certificate Examination to enforce the 18-year age requirement for candidates wishing to take these exams.

This, he said, was not a new policy.

Mamman added that the age limit for candidates sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, administered by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, remains 18 years.

He said: “It is 18 (years). What we did at the meeting that we had with JAMB (in July) was to allow this year and for it to serve as a kind of notice for parents that this year, JAMB will admit students who are below that age but from next year, JAMB is going to insist that anybody applying to go to university in Nigeria meets the required age, which is 18.’’

“For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a new policy; this is a policy that has been there for a long time.

“Even basically if you compute the number of years pupils, and learners are supposed to be in school, the number you will end up with is 17 and a half – from early child care to primary school to junior secondary school and then senior secondary school. You will end up with 17 and a half by the time they are ready for admission.”