The Nigerian union of teachers has denounced the federal government’s policy to ban candidates under the ages of 18 from taking the west african senior school certificate examination, WASSCE, and the national examination council exams, NECO, despite the academic staff union of universities endorsing the policy.
This means underage candidates will no longer be allowed to sit for the west african senior school certificate examination and the senior school certificate examination, both crucial for advancing to tertiary education.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, made the announcement in an interview, saying that the Federal Government had instituted a new age policy for secondary school leaving examinations, setting the minimum age at 18.
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Additionally, Mamman confirmed that the age limit to undertake the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, overseen by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, will also be 18.
The minister went further to give a breakdown of the number of years pupils were expected to spend between child care and senior secondary school.
According to him, early care is expected to last for the first five years. Pupils are expected to begin primary one at the age of six, spend six years in primary school and move to junior secondary school at the age of 12, spend three years, before moving to senior secondary school at the age of 15, then spend another three years before leaving for university at the age of 18.
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