‘Parents Are In A Hurry’: FG Defends Ban On U-18 Students For SSCE

The Federal Government has defended its ban on students less than 18 years old sitting for the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), accusing parents of hurrying their children/wards.

In July, the Minister of Education Tahir Mamman said that starting from 2025, candidates below 18 will not be allowed to sit for the SSCE.

Although the minister said the development was in line with the country’s laws, the move created ripples across the country, prompting a backlash from several quarters.

But at the Inter-Ministerial Press Briefing in Abuja, Mamman has defended the policy which he said will pay the country in the long run.

“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.”