FG Place Strict Age Requirement for Entrance Exams Into Unity Schools

Cursory: The Nigerian government has implemented a strict age requirement for entrance exams into Unity schools. According to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Davido Adejo, candidates below 11 years old are ineligible to take the exams. To address this issue, candidates will now be required to upload their birth certificates during registration for age verification so as to prevent underage candidates from participating.

The National Common Entrance Examination, which grants admission to Unity Schools in Nigeria, will no longer allow underage children to participate. The Federal Government has implemented this ban and instructed the National Examination Council (NECO) to enforce strict measures to prevent underage individuals from registering for the examination.

As part of these measures, the government has made it mandatory to provide a birth certificate during registration.Mr. David Andrew Adejo, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, issued this directive while overseeing the 2023 Common Entrance Examination held across the 110 Federal Government Colleges in the country. According to Adejo, a total of 72,821 candidates nationwide took the examination.

He emphasized that candidates should be at least 12 years old to enter secondary school, clarifying that a candidate could be eleven years old during the examination but must reach the age of 12 by September.

During his visit to the Federal Government Girls College and Government Day Secondary School in Bwari, the Permanent Secretary expressed dissatisfaction with the presence of underage individuals taking the examination.

He stated that being less than eleven years old was unacceptable, highlighting that schools like Airforce School only admit candidates who are at least twelve years old.

“This year, I have advice for parents and I beg you, take this advice to any single home you know. We are killing our children by allowing underage children to write the Common Entrance Examination.

“I saw children that I know that are not up to 10, and three of them accepted that they are nine years old. We are doing many things; one, we are teaching the children the wrong values. Education is not about passing exams. Education is teaching, learning and character formation

“I beg the parents, let these children do the exams when they should. We don’t get value by pushing your child too far. Most of the times if a child starts too early, he or she will have problems later in life.

“Education is designed in such a way that at any particular stage in life, there are messages your brain can take and understand and be able to use. We are moving from education that is reliant on reading textbooks and passing exams.

“We are getting to a stage where education is what can you use your knowledge to do for the society. You put a small child to go through all the rigours, by the time he finishes secondary, getting to University becomes a problem. I had that experience with a friend. Till date that friend did not get into a University, simply because he was put into school earlier than age that he was supposed to be put into school.

“Let our children get to appropriate age before writing this exam and we are going to make sure NECO put in place appropriate checks. We didn’t want to get to where we will say bring birth certificate but that is the stage we are going to now. In registering also upload the child’s birth certificate, so that at our own end, we are able to cut some of these things,” he said.

The Permanent Secretary also acknowledged the positive outcomes of the Federal Government’s and other stakeholders’ efforts to promote girls’ education. The results are evident as this year’s Common Entrance Examination saw a significant increase in the number of girls who registered, reaching 38,000, surpassing previous years.

Professor Dantani Wushishi, the Registrar of the National Examinations Council (NECO), reported that the examination was conducted smoothly and without any hitches. Feedback received from various regions across the country confirmed the seamless nature of the examination.

The total number of candidates registered for the 2023 National Common Entrance Examination was 72,821, with Lagos State having the highest enrollment, followed by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) while the State with lowest registration, Kebbi, has about 115 registered candidates.

He noted that the Council would put in place mechanism to check some of the noticeable gaps caused by upsurge in registration a day to the examination.

Source: Leadership

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