FG moves to peg university admission age at 18

• Mamman stated that the Federal Government is looking at adopting 18 years as the entry age for admission into universities and other tertiary institutions of learning

The Federal Government has bemoaned the proliferation of underage students in the nation’s tertiary institutions.

The government disclosed that many of the challenges encountered in higher institutions are caused by underage students.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman made this known on Monday while monitoring the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in Abuja on Monday.

Mamman stated that the Federal Government is looking at adopting 18 years as the entry age for admission into universities and other tertiary institutions of learning.

This is even as he admonished parents against pushing their children and wards “too much,” to allow them to attain some level of maturity to be able to better manage their affairs.

He said, “The other thing which we notice is the age of those who have applied to go to the university. Some of them are too young. We are going to look at it because they are too young to understand what a university education is all about.

“That’s the stage when students migrate from a controlled environment where they are in charge of their affairs. So if they are too young, they won’t be able to manage properly. That accounts for some of the problems we are seeing in the universities.

“We are going to look at that. 18 is the entry age for university but you will see students, 15, and 16, going to the examination. It is not good for us. Parents should be encouraged not to push their wards, or children too much.”