The recent declaration by the Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman to enforce an 18 year age restriction on the West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO), and the Joint Admission Examination Board (JAMB) examination was received with disagreement and disdain by most Nigerians. The announcement has forced most to question this position because even though its an old policy about to be revived, the policy was ignored for its infeasibility and rigidity. Is setting an age limit the solution to Nigeria’s education deficit, degree racketeering and poor infrastructure in schools?
The Nigerian Educational system adopts a 6-3-3-4 system. This means a child is expected to spend 6 years in primary school, 3 years in junior secondary, 3 years in senior secondary and 4 years in university. If the child is expected to be 18 years before eligibility to sit for the secondary school certificate exam, this is upon the assumption that the child would be enrolled in primary school at 6 years.
The 6 year age is known as the ideal age as it is believed that at that age, the child is mature enough to handle the development and communal aspect of school. According to a publication by The Punch in 2016, a lecturer at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of The Social Sciences, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Dr. Grace Adejuwon, said ideally, school age should be five years but could be extended to six years.
Adejuwon, who is an expert in developmental psychology, noted that the enrolment of children in school before age five was responsible for the noticeable problems in the child’s education. According to her, many parents consider the intelligence of their children without putting the kids’ maturity into consideration before they make them start school.
“The maturity of the children is important and not only their intelligence. New-born babies attend school in the form of crèche. Some are in nursery and kindergarten as pre-school. Parents need to consider many factors before their children start school. The child may be intelligent, but maturity is important,” the lecturer said.
A United Kingdom-based higher education researcher and career strategist, Dr. Peter Ogudoro, said most societies have education policies that favour children starting primary school at age six.
“The positional and material success as well as the social praise parents of such children tend to attract can mask their emotional and social poverty. Many parents in Nigeria need to be helped to appreciate that education involves much more than the acquisition of academic credentials. Life has stages.
“Smart and truly successful children are not necessarily those who finish formal schooling faster than their peers. There is more to life than the possession of academic credentials and scholastic aptitude,’’ he added.
According to St Andrews International School, Sukhumut, a child can start school at an earlier age once he shows signs of developmental readiness.
“Age 5 is the sweet spot in which a child is able to comprehend more intermediate skills like counting or form better word association. However, with the presence of curriculums or frameworks targeted towards a child’s early years by design, your child may be enrolled as early as age 2!
“So, as a parent, how do you know when your child should start schooling and what factors should you be thinking about? While there is no definitive answer, since every child differs developmentally, assessing the individual needs and readiness of a child is the first step. Earlier isn’t always better!
“Just remember that the age a child should start schooling is gauged on their developmental readiness.”
Parents enrol their children in school as early as 2 years to begin creche, kindergarten, pre nursery and nursery classes. This most times hastens their schooling and you find children as young as four years in Primary 1. In such a case, the child would be 9 years in primary 6, 15 years when writing WAEC and 16 years in the university.
One wouldn’t blame parents for enrolling their children early in school. Some parents have timed jobs so they have to make use of the school to take care of their children.
Not forgetting that gaining admission into a federal or state university in Nigeria is not easy for everyone. It requires connections in some cases even. Many students have complained of not gaining admission even after fulfilling all the requirements to be considered for admission. This then delays them by extra years, and they have to re-sit for JAMB again the next year. Imagine doing that when one is above 18 years.
Aside from the uncertainty of admission and work pressure on parents, there is an unspoken race Nigerians are up against in order to thrive in the society. Most jobs peg their entry level role age at 23 – 25 years or lower. This means you are expected to graduate and serve before turning 26 in a country where ASUU strikes are as common as Malaria! Of course, the idea is unfeasible and unpragmatic.
In utopic Nigeria, a child writes WAEC at 18, gains admission at 19, graduates at 22 or 23 depending on the years required to finish the course, serve for a year at 24 and get a job at 25. But how practicable is this in the country we live in.
It is impressive, the determination by the Minister of Education to combat degree racketeering and his attempt to address the educational system. But honestly, fixing an age limit to the WAEC, NECO and JAMB examination is not the best way to achieve that. Our schools need renovation, our curriculum needs to be upgraded to match the realities of this time and age, our students need scholarships to study in schools, our students need basic amenities and security, and we need Job security after graduation.
The re-evolution of the Nigerian Education system will encourage students who go outwards in search of easy and quality education opportunities to return home. The number of students approaching schools in Togo and Benin will decrease if admission opportunities are transparent and easy in Nigeria. one would think that it is the 16 year olds in the university that are the cause of the country’s woes.
