18-year admission policy: Parents identify negative social impacts

Some parents have faulted the recent admission policy restricting the minimum age of students into tertiary institutions to 18 years, citing its negative social impacts on students.

The parents called on the Federal Government (FG) to reverse the policy in their separate interviews with the NEWSMEN in Ibadan on Thursday.

JOURNALISTS recalls that the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, recently said candidates seeking admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria must be 18 years old or older.

Mr Rotimi Omoniyi said the policy should have been implemented to ease out students presently under the 6,3,3,4 education system without any disruption.

According to him, the new policy should begin with newly admitted students in the Nigerian school system.

Citing the brewing negative social impacts of the policy, Omoniyi stated that many candidates would have to stay home idle for one to two years.

“And an idle hand is the devil’s workshop.

“One could doubt if the real issue is about the maturity of the candidates as they are more prone to social vices being idle at home after being denied entrance into tertiary institutions.

“The period of being out of tertiary institutions, with parents having nowhere to put their wards, would expose the teenagers to dangers that would later become national concerns,” he said.

Omoniyi said most areas in various localities were no longer safe to keep youths without engaging their minds meaningfully.

“Do we have government-established vocational centres to engage them for the waiting period? What can parents do to keep their minds busy if there is nowhere to put them?” He asked.

Mr Niyi Olawuyi said the policy did not consider exceptional students scattered across the country.

He said it was unfair to have given parents a little time to adjust to the new policy.

“Parents, who have planned for the lives of their wards, are still in shock as to what to do next, especially for students who are in terminal classes.

“This will also give room for people to alter the age of candidates in attempting to beat the new guideline at all costs,” he said.

Another parent, Mr Bayo Bolaji, called on the government to reassess the policy, saying the disadvantages outweigh the advantages that might be.

Meanwhile, Mrs Margaret Adewale said that her children’s school would now run a primary six arm instead of primary five.

“Even at that, my child will still have to stay one more year at home to reach age 10 before gaining admission into a secondary school.

“It is frustrating because employers place age limits, and this is what we want to beat.

“We want the children to compete favourably and be at an advantage when seeking jobs later,” Adewale said.

Mrs Modupe Olusolape said since developed countries have systems that support leaving the school system at younger ages why would Nigeria want older ages to enter the labour market?

According to her, the educational policies in the country are not well known to the populace, hence the various discrepancies and irregularities being witnessed.

Olusolape traced the decadence in the education sector to the failure of government agencies to ensure compliance with set regulations.

She noted that the policy was, in a way, not new but that the government had failed to implement it in the past.

Olusolape stated that, regrettably, the country would only move in circles with poor monitoring and enforcement, including poor funding and oversight of the education sector.