The Federal Ministry of Education under the leadership of Tunji Alausa, the minister of education has pegged the entry age for pupils seeking admission into Junior Secondary Schools (JSS1) after completing six years of primary education at 12.
This is contained in a new policy document on non-state schools as unveiled by the ministry recently.
According to the policy document, non-state schools are increasingly playing a major role in education provision in the country, despite variations in the quality of education being offered across the categories of schools.
The Federal Ministry of Education emphasised that the age of enrolment, “Nursery education shall be of three years’ duration.
“Children shall be admitted into nursery one when they attain the age of three years, nursery two on attaining the age of four, and one year of compulsory pre-primary education (Kindergarten) on attaining the age of five years, in accordance with the specification of Section 2 (17) of the NPE, 2013 Edition.”
On the age of enrolment for junior secondary schools, the policy clearly stated that, “Basic education shall be of nine years’ duration. There shall be a six-year primary and a three-year Junior Secondary School (JSS). Children shall be admitted into primary one when they attain the age of six years.
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“Every child must complete six years of primary education. They shall be admitted into Junior Secondary School (JSS1) when they have completed six years of primary education, at around the age of 12 years.”
The non-state schools, referred to as independent or private schools or non-government schools, are educational institutions not managed by the government.
They are typically financed by tuition payments as well as donations from individuals, businesses, communities, faith-based organisations and foundations.
Going by the directives from the new policy, it implies that Nigerian learners would attain the rightful age of 18 before being qualified for entrance into tertiary institutions.
Recall the federal government recently reversed the admission age into tertiary institutions to 16, amid controversies over the mandatory 18 years minimum age of entry into tertiary institutions.
Tahir Mamman, the former minister of education announced 18 years as the minimum entry requirement, before Tunji Alausa, the incumbent minister of education backslid the policy to 16 years for entry into university.
The Nigeria Education Digest 2022, published by the ministry, indicated that “Non-state schools outnumber state schools in at least 26 states of the federation at the junior secondary level, whereas at the primary level, state schools outnumber non-state schools in 19 states of the federation.
“The growth in the number of non-state schools between 2017 and 2022 (the last five years reported) has been faster than that of state schools.
“Non-state primary schools grew in number by 31.56 percent between 2017 and 2022, while state schools grew in number by 3.3 percent within the same period.
“At the junior secondary level, non-state schools grew in number by 35.06 percent between 2017 and 2022, while state schools grew in number by 6.8 percent only within the same period.”
