The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, has revealed why he believes parents are encouraging their underaged children to take the UTME examinations to enter the university.
As reported by Channels, Professor Oloyede revealed this while expressing his concern over the increasing number of underage students seeking university admission in Nigeria.
The registrar, who is also a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, emphasized the importance of having a minimum age for university admission, in spite of the fact that there are many brilliant students in Nigeria. He explained that the number of truly exceptional students in Nigeria are very small compared to the abundance of regular students, and as such, the minimum age is necessary.
He revealed that since the registrations began, there have been children as young as 10 trying to register. He explained that parents want their underaged children to register not for the benefit of the children, but for themselves, so they can brag on their children’s early accomplishments.
“I’m surprised that, just from Monday to now, over 2,000 candidates have registered across the country. Some of them are as young as 10, 11, and 12, with parents finding crooked ways to accelerate their education.
“What parents are now doing is increasing the age of their children. They are doing everything—affidavit of age and all sorts of manipulations.
“The parents want to use the children to decorate their CVs. They want to say, ‘I am the mother of a lawyer; my child graduated at age 13,” he said.
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