The Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, has uphold the decision of restricting students under 18 years of age from writing the Senior School Certificate Examination.
In his statement while briefing the press last Thursday in abuja, says that the ban is in line with the nation’s laws and its educational policies.
However, he maintained that the policy is not new,but the present Tinubu administration is only implementing what the law says
He take a firm stand that from 2025,students under 18 years will not be allowed to sit for the SSCE, tressing that in due time, Nigerians welcome policy.
The minister blamed parents of in a rush by sending their children through school.
He explained that the present administration did not introduced the laws, that its has been in the nation’s laws education policies.
“Our laws, the Universal Basic Education Act and the Minimum Standards Policy Act established in 1993 prescribed specific age limits and provisions for every level of education: six years in primary school, three years in junior secondary school, three years in senior secondary school, and then five to six years before primary school (in pre-primary school). A child is expected to enter school at the age of six.
“But what has been happening is that our parents have been in a hurry. They frog jump their children, get them into school at the age of four, skip level six at primary school, and also skip level six at secondary school. So they finish quite too young.
“Now, what we have done is that with the type of curriculum that we have introduced, we need them to be in place as prescribed by the acts,”
“Those two acts that I have mentioned, we need them to be in place [for them] to learn and acquire knowledge and skills. I remember these acts are not the ones prescribed by the government. They were not enacted during this government’s time.
“This is an act that was established in 1993. The 6-3-3-4 came into being around 1982. So, this policy is already a very, very old policy. All that the Ministry ”
“All that the Minister of Education did is say, ‘Ok, we come back to implementing these policies so that students can remain in school and learn skills so that when they finish, they will be able to be engaged productively, even if they don’t go to college education or universities, they will have skills that they can be employed with or be even self-employed,”
