Nigerians seem to only express nostalgia for the good old days when it is convenient. We romanticize the days of “Ali must go”, when the government of the day could not implement contentious policies without first getting the buy-in of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) due to activism. Yet, the “greatest gbo gbo” of those days now as parents are destroying the very fabric that makes such “aluta” and similar vibes possible. Pray, is it the teens that now parades Nigeria’s tertiary institutions that can grow the “liver” to hold government by the jugular over unpopular policies? These children can’t even stand up to their sadistic lecturers let alone constituted authorities!
Campus life is no longer what it used to be because men have been replaced by boys and women girls. It is therefore not surprising that socialization in higher institutions now resembles what obtained in secondary schools so much so that the school-father and school-mother syndrome has been imported into campuses. Mindful that their children are not yet mature for tertiary pressures, parents cultivate minders for them as is done for freshers in boarding secondary schools! This negates the expectation that an undergraduate should be independent minded.
The Nigerian tertiary institution system doesn’t suffer the naïve gladly, not to talk of those at the height of their gullibility. To start with, these kids will on a daily basis be faced with tough and life-defining choices which they apparently lack the native intelligence or critical reasoning for. Their greenness and inability to cope with the overwhelming demands of tertiary education and lifestyle is believed to be at the heart of suicides and suicidal tendencies on campuses. Also dire is that these impressionable minds can be easily browbeaten or manipulated into taking to vices that are alien to their family background. Unfortunately, when they manage to graduate under these bad influences, the larger society they are fed into is the worse for it. Any wonder there has been exacerbating moral decadence in the country?
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As it were, participants of the glorious aeon who enjoyed every bit of maturity in university have no qualms deviating from the tradition. This is talking about parents and guardians who although fully grown as of the time of their matriculation, are proud to have their minors in campuses. Most parents are even in the habit of pressuring their underage children to get admission into tertiary institutions. Some go as far as falsifying their kids’ date of birth to pass them off as 16 years of age so they can be considered for admission into the university.
Few days ago, the Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman observed that tertiary institutions in the country have continued to admit students who do not meet the age benchmark. Speaking while monitoring the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in the Federal Capital Territory, he said, “The minimum age of entry into the university is 18, but we have seen students who are 15, 16 years going in for the entrance examination… We are going to look at this development because the candidates are too young to understand what the whole university education is all about.”
This position aligns with an earlier one expressed by the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew Adejoh, last year. This was when he decried the enrolling of younger pupils below the age of 12 into secondary schools as a breach of the nation’s education policy. The perm sec went on to tell parents that “we are killing our children by allowing underage children to write the Common Entrance Examination.” As if responding to those who contend that exceptionally brilliant minors should be allowed some waivers, Adejoh asserted that “Education is not about passing exams. Education is teaching, learning and character formation”.
Admittedly, there is the case of the world’s youngest professor of mathematics who became a prof at the age of 17. There are many of such geniuses around the world but the question begging for answers from advocates of brilliant students getting into universities at a tender age, is: how many of such gifted children can we find in the Nigerian system? While the entry age into universities in the United Kingdom is from 18, the Open University, UK is open to younger persons found to have performed exceptionally. This public institution avails them remote university education even while under the care and custody of their parents. With the right motivation and upgrade, the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) can serve this purpose.
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In Nigeria, children are meant to start their education at 6, allowing some time for home schooling. If the 6-3-3-4 education system is anything to go by, then they should be taking their university matriculation exam at 18. Not even in advanced countries like the United States, United Kingdom and Canada will you find wholesale admission of persons under the age of 18 into universities. This is notwithstanding the fact that we are in the ‘jet age’ with a generation of super-fast learners. The truth remains that admitting students below the age of 18 into the university is counterproductive since their low intelligence quotient won’t allow them be functional members of the community.
An honest conversation with any teenage graduate will reveal that they would have done better if they knew what they currently knows as of matriculation time. And this is not referring to academic knowledge but the wisdom that comes with age. Given that this is the predilection of the affluent, you can be sure that students who matriculate into universities at tender age were raised in private residences that literally and psychologically fenced them off other kids in the neighborhood. They only saw these their age mates from the tinted glasses of their parents’ cars while heading or returning from outings. As such, it’s not even as if they have the street-smart to compensate for what they lack in age, per properly fitting into a university environment.
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The preponderance of expert opinions on the subject matter tallies with those expressed by Nigeria’s topmost officials in the education sector as referenced above. Even the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), through its President, upvoted what Mamman said. It goes to show that having minors as university students is an ill wind that blows no one any good. If care is not taken, the hurt from their hastened educational pursuit can hunt the students for the rest of their lives. Indeed, one indiscretion or poor judgment as a result of their low mental state can ruin their future.
While it is prudent and expedient to see their children through school before retirement, parents should be circumspect lest they get more than they bargained for. If their children are brilliant enough to finish secondary school early, let them take the intervening period before turning 18 to learn any of the major foreign languages or enroll for some technical training. Education minister sir, since you believe that underage students are responsible for some of the problems bedevilling higher institutions, you’ve got to go beyond mere proposition into policy action and enforcement. Perhaps, the federal government can start from private universities and polytechnics where the infraction seems prevalent.
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