Tag: GCE

PEOPLE are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.”

Those were the words of George Bernard Shaw in his book, Mrs. Warren’s Profession. The words would seem to have found expression in the feat attained by nine-year-old pupil of Edidot Primary School, Badore, Ajah, Lagos State, Miss Anjola Bajoku, who stunned the world recently by sitting for two subjects in the General Certificate of Education (GCE) examination and coming out with credit passes in both.

After getting her father’s consent to speak with her, the reporter came face-to-face with the Nigerian child prodigy apparently in a hurry to catch up with generations ahead of hers. According to her, she was motivated to sit the exam dreaded by most senior secondary school students after reading through some of past GCE English and French question papers and considering them passable.

She had boasted to her older siblings that she could pass the two subjects and they picked up the gauntlet by helping her to enroll for the examination without the knowledge of their parents. It was after her enrolment that her parents were told about it and both of them took time off other engagements to give her tutorials in English and French languages. She said she did not sit for more subjects because there were no teachers to take her through them.

Her resolve to become Nigeria’s youngest medical doctor became more apparent when he told the reporter that American Materials Scientist, Alia Sabur, is her role model. Born February 22, 1989 in New York City, Sabur was said to have shown “early signs of giftedness”. He had tested “off the IQ scale” as a first-grader, earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do at the age of 9, left public school as a fourth grader and was admitted to State University of New York at the age of 10. She graduated at 14 and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s youngest professor, having been appointed on February 19, 2008 as an International Professor. She was 18.

But beyond her personal ambition, Anjola’s bold effort has opened a fresh debate on the role of the family in the life of a child. Many see it as a call on parents to encourage their children to come out and be recognised. It also questions the propriety or continued relevance of the law that sets 16 years as the minimum age for admission into a Nigerian university.

While the profile of her role model is intimidating, Anjola believes her personal ambition to become Nigeria’s youngest medical doctor is achievable if the age barrier is lifted. At present, the law regulating admission into universities in Nigeria stipulates that no candidate below 16 years is eligible for admission. This regulation appears to be cast in iron, making it doubtful that the relevant authorities would be willing to amend the laws concerning education to make provision for exceptionally gifted children.

All over the world and through the centuries, states and governments have made provision to accommodate child prodigies like the musical Ludwig Van Beethoven; Karl Benz, the pioneering founder of Mercedes Benz automobile; Sunny Sanwar who fluently understood six languages by the age of eight and finished four years of high school in eight months with honours; Arkit Jaswall who conducted his first surgery at seven; Kim Ung-Yong who graduated with a Ph.D. in Physics at the age of 15 and Blaise Pascal, a physicist, mathematician and Christian philosopher popular for his Pascal Theorem in Mathematics.

The Nigerian law that sets age 16 as the minimum age for admission into its universities is not less than 25 years old. It was promulgated in the late 1970s when there was neither internet nor widespread use of computers; a time when there were no private or open universities and a period of lower percentage of literacy.

In the light of the fact that Arkit Jaswal, a surgeon and an Indian prodigy earlier mentioned, was admitted into the University of the Punjab in India at age 12, and considering the many similarities between Nigeria and India, one is tempted to ask why JAMB is holding on to a gun without bullets.

At this point, the case of Ebube Iris Nwaebuni, a 14-year-old girl from Delta State, who at age 12 sat for the West African Schools Certificate Examination (WASCE) and got eight credits comes to mind. She is presently pursuing a diploma course in a Nigerian university because regardless of her giftedness, she cannot be a full-fledged undergraduate of the university until she is 16.

Does our society only pay tribute to giftedness without making it possible for the gifted to soar and actualise their dreams? How would Alia Sabur and Akrit Jaswal have fared if they were Nigerians and had to wait until 16 before they were given an opportunity to start the process of actualising their dreams and availing the world the benefits of their exceptional abilities?

Even for Alia Sabur, the journey to herself actualisation didn’t come without a hitch. Her parents filed a suit on her behalf concerning the school district’s failure to “provide their daughter with appropriate educational services.” In 2008, she filed a suit against Drexel University, Philadelphia, claiming “that the university engaged in fraud and defamation regarding her pursuit of a doctoral degree” because her supervisor used her name to collect illegal grants.

If the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board’s law that places a hindrance to Anjola’s pursuit is not repealed, she may, in spite of her genius, suffer the fate of Ebube Nwaebuni. Other exceptionally gifted Nigerian children may also have to wait at home cooling their intellect.

It is, however, unlikely that Anjola will suffer the same fate if the relentless cries for the repeal of this outdated law and other archaic and irrelevant laws from our institutions yield results, because she is just nine and would not be ready for the university before she is 12.

Having read about her role model on the Internet, one is tempted to ask again, how many Nigerian children have access to the Internet, especially the ones in public schools? Who and what influences our children in this age of largely uncensored television consumption and buzzing social media?

The attention around Anjola is deserved and it is a welcome relief from the stories of violence, treachery, failures, frustrations and the moral decadence whereby some adults have demeaned themselves by getting married to and sexually abusing children and minors.

Anjola said she sat for the exam because she wanted to be famous and I ask again, how many children want to be famous using the right tools? When they achieve the fame, will they be given an unfettered opportunity to contribute to the uplifting of society?

Anjola believes that the ban and age discrimination should be lifted so that child prodigies like her can make a difference in the world. She also has a dream not to wait until she is 16, but to get into the university at 13 or 14 so that she can become Nigeria’s youngest doctor and save lives. Hopefully, the rules will change or at least bend a little to accommodate her and her aspirations.