The Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, says some issues in Nigerian universities are caused by underage students who do not know what university education is about.
He stated this while speaking with newsmen after monitoring the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, in some of the centres in Abuja.
His words: “As we know, this examination is going on throughout the country. It is being monitored everywhere seamlessly, and from the report I have heard, the malpractice level is very low, just 100 out of 1.2 million. I believe that the use of technology has made that happen, so this is very good.
“The other thing that we noticed is the age of those who have applied to go to the university. Some of them are really too young. We are going to look at it because they are too young to understand what university education is all about.
“That’s the stage when students migrate from a controlled environment where they are in charge of their own affairs. So if they are too young, they won’t be able to manage properly.
“That accounts for some of the problems we are seeing in the universities.
The minister also reiterated that 18 years should be the benchmark for admission into Nigerian universities.
“We are going to look at that. 18 is the entry age for university. But you will see students, ages 15 and 16, going to the examination. It is not good for us. Parents should be encouraged not to push their wards or children too much,” he said.
