The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has introduced a special registration category for exceptionally gifted candidates under 16 years old to sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, made this announcement during an interview on *Inside Sources with Laolu Akande*, aired on Channels Television.
“In Nigeria, we have many brilliant students. We are enforcing the 16-year minimum entry requirement into tertiary institutions, but some people argue that there are exceptional students. Yes, but they are one in a million,” Oloyede said.
He explained that while 16 years remains the standard minimum age for university admission, younger candidates who believe they are academically exceptional can register under the newly introduced “exceptional candidacy” category.
“I’m surprised that just within a few days, over 2,000 candidates have registered across the country. Some of them are as young as 10, 11, and 12 years old. Unfortunately, many parents have found ways to manipulate their children’s ages,” JAMB Registrar stated.
Oloyede criticized the trend of parents falsifying birth records and using affidavits to push their children ahead in education, arguing that normal biological development does not support such academic acceleration.
“Some parents are only interested in decorating their CVs by claiming their child graduated at 13. But this often puts unnecessary pressure on the child,” JAMB Registrar added.
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cc: Daily Post Ng
