Sir: Recently, the federal government and of course, its Ministry of Education, came up with a policy that a child who is not up to 18 years at the time of entry into tertiary education, will no longer be able to be granted admission into such a tertiary institution. That policy seems to have come to stay, because at it seems, everybody has accepted that realisation.
I must differ from everyone because, I have this agitation or nudge that something is just not right with this policy. It is like deliberately wanting to stall or even cut short, in every sense of it, the lives of our children.
No matter how well intentioned the federal government is, it was not well thought out at all. Policies should be made in a way that it would naturally fit into the lives of the citizens and be naturally acceptable.
If the federal government must correct any educational imbalance, regarding age of entrance, it must start from the very beginning, not by stalling those who had been on the programme.
To be sincere, this policy is not new in Nigeria. My generation went through it. I schooled in the North, precisely Jos, in those days. No intending pupil would be granted admission if you were not six years old. Your age would further be measured in a crude way of asking you to place your right hand on your head to touch your left ear lobe. I had a little problem with that at that time, because, I was too little for my age. Someone had to confirm that I was six years old before I was allowed into school. Those were the days when things were done right and no one was willing to cheat. With that a child would have a bit of cognition before entering school at all. Not now that a child of four years would be in primary one.
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The introduction of kindergarten education, obviously by the elite, also had a lot to contribute to the present system. The elite wanted to pursue their careers and did not want the issue of raising their kids to clog their ways. They also started the idea of seeking double promotion for their kids as well as making them jump classes straight to secondary schools at tender ages.
If the government must insist on this policy now, a lot of harm would be done rather than the malady that they are trying to correct.
Currently, you have students in SSS 3 who will not be 18 years by the time they are finishing. Clearly, these students would be at home for two years before they can be admitted into tertiary institutions. One can only imagine what the effects may be on these students. The government certainly does not have any programme to absorb these redundant extra two years in the lives of these children. They leave them for their parents to ponder on that. In this age of globalisation, internet fraud and media accessibility, one can only fathom the factors that could influence the children’s lives.
If the government must implement this policy effectively, it should start from the very beginning by creating a system that would naturally allow a student to start a tertiary education at 18, so that there will not be a sense of loss. Currently, parents are starting to beat the government to it, by making their children write GCE, at Miracle Centres, while in SSS 2 and push them to private universities before the deadlines. The policy is meant for the child of the poor as it seems.
In developed countries, the education systems are so structured in a way to develop with their age, not some haphazard proclamations.
In my lone voice and as someone who is directly affected, I shall advise the federal government to begin this policy from those who will just be entering primary school by insisting on a certain age or better still, stall those about to enter JSS 1, to be of a certain age that would enable a perfect calculation.
This is the advice of a lone voice in the wilderness and like John, the Baptist, it could save lives. No one can tell.
