The Joint Admissions And
Matriculation Board announced the
results for the 2019 Unified
Tertiary Matriculation Examination
in the early hours of Saturday.

From the breakdown and analysis
given by Ishaq Oloyede, the
Registrar of the board, it became
pretty clear that, just like last year,
another precocious student,
emerged as the overall best
student.

Ekele Franklin, 15, is this year's
superstar!

To score the highest mark in UTME,
at whatever age, is no mean feat.
To do it at the age of 15, when
most of your contemporaries are
still tied to their mother's apron
strings, is breathtakingly
incredible.
And when you consider
the number of candidates that sat
for the Examination(over
1.7million!) Franklin and his kith
and kin have every reason to be on
cloud nine.
The teenager from Imo state is now the envy of his
age-mates.


However, Franklin's joy may be
short-lived, the impressive result
may not secure him the desired
admission for this reason.

Is it fair ?, however, that such a
brilliant mind be held back by age?

An Unwritten But Attractive Law !
There is an unwritten law, effective
though, that puts a limit on the
age by which a student can start
his/her academic odyssey in any
public University in Nigeria.

According to the unwritten law,
the 'standard' and official age for
admission into public University is
Sixteen(16). The admission seeker
is expected to be sixteen by the 1st
of October in the year of admission.
If not all is the hope of securing
admission will be a mirage.


For the reason, Franklin whose
official age is 15 might not be offered
admission for his dream course at
the University of Lagos, come to
the beginning of a new session
except he is 16 by then.

Are There Precedents?

Yes. Thousands of brilliant
admission seekers had been
denied admission solely because of
this unwritten but active law.

Though most of the people that
had been at the receiving end of
this law are faceless, a case will
suffice;
That of Faith Oluwatomi
Oyende.
Faith Oluwatomi Oyende, at the
age of 21(now a graduate of
biochemistry), graduated with a
4.68 cumulative grade point
average, CGPA, to emerge the best
graduating student from the
Faculty of Science at the 21st
convocation ceremony of Lagos
State University (LASU).
While answering questions from
the Vanguard Newspaper last year
on how she achieved the feat,
Faith said: "It is a long story. I
actually wanted to become a
medical doctor. But I was denied
admission at both University of
Lagos, UNILAG, and LASU because i was not yet 16years old.

Having finished secondary school
at age 15, I wrote and passed the
Joint Admission Matriculation
Board Examination. But during the
post-JAMB test, I was told I must
have completed 16 years on or
before October 1, 2011.

Unfortunately, I was to be 16 on
January 1, 2012."

The same fate befell the brilliant
Orishenye Okorogheye who, after
having A1 in the students he sat
for in May/June 2018 WASSCE,
emerged as the best UTME
candidate in 2018 at the age of 15
as well. He was stopped in his
tracks while trying to apply to
UNILAG for Post-UTME despite
scoring 332.

Justification Of The Law :

There are many justifications for
this Law both from academics and
counsellors. The summary of which
is that most of the under-16
brilliant students are not
'emotionally mature' to withstand
the multi-tasking that tertiary
education demands. Another
reason is that they are still
impressionable and may fall easy
prey to the antics of the adults in
the ivory tower.

Though the age-limit 'policy' has
no legal backing it has become the
gold standard for securing
admission.
Do you think the 'law' is
retrogressive and be done away
with?

Also,what can he do now ? ?

Crackthebrain:
The Joint Admissions And Matriculation Board announced the results for the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in the early hours of Saturday.
From the breakdown and analysis given by Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar of the board, it became pretty clear that, just like last year, another precocious student, emerged as the overall best student.
Ekele Franklin, 15, is this year's superstar!
To score the highest mark in UTME, at whatever age, is no mean feat. To do it at the age of 15, when most of your contemporaries are still tied to their mother's apron strings, is breathtakingly incredible. And when you consider the number of candidates that sat for the Examination(over 1.7million!) Franklin and his kith and kin have every reason to be on cloud nine. The teenager from Imo state is now the envy of his age-mates.

However, Franklin's joy may be short-lived, the impressive result may not secure him the desired admission for this reason.
Is it fair ?, however, that such a brilliant mind be held back by age?
An Unwritten But Attractive Law ! There is an unwritten law, effective though, that puts a limit on the age by which a student can start his/her academic odyssey in any public University in Nigeria.
According to the unwritten law, the 'standard' and official age for admission into public University is Sixteen(16). The admission seeker is expected to be sixteen by the 1st of October in the year of admission. If not all is the hope of securing admission will be a mirage.

For the reason, Franklin whose official age is 15 might not be offered admission for his dream course at the University of Lagos, come to the beginning of a new session except he is 16 by then.
Are There Precedents?
Yes. Thousands of brilliant admission seekers had been denied admission solely because of this unwritten but active law.
Though most of the people that had been at the receiving end of this law are faceless, a case will suffice; That of Faith Oluwatomi Oyende. Faith Oluwatomi Oyende, at the age of 21(now a graduate of biochemistry), graduated with a 4.68 cumulative grade point average, CGPA, to emerge the best graduating student from the Faculty of Science at the 21st convocation ceremony of Lagos State University (LASU). While answering questions from the Vanguard Newspaper last year on how she achieved the feat, Faith said: "It is a long story. I actually wanted to become a medical doctor. But I was denied admission at both University of Lagos, UNILAG, and LASU because i was not yet 16years old.
Having finished secondary school at age 15, I wrote and passed the Joint Admission Matriculation Board Examination. But during the post-JAMB test, I was told I must have completed 16 years on or before October 1, 2011.
Unfortunately, I was to be 16 on January 1, 2012."
The same fate befell the brilliant Orishenye Okorogheye who, after having A1 in the students he sat for in May/June 2018 WASSCE, emerged as the best UTME candidate in 2018 at the age of 15 as well. He was stopped in his tracks while trying to apply to UNILAG for Post-UTME despite scoring 332.
Justification Of The Law :
There are many justifications for this Law both from academics and counsellors. The summary of which is that most of the under-16 brilliant students are not 'emotionally mature' to withstand the multi-tasking that tertiary education demands. Another reason is that they are still impressionable and may fall easy prey to the antics of the adults in the ivory tower.
Though the age-limit 'policy' has no legal backing it has become the gold standard for securing admission. Do you think the 'law' is retrogressive and be done away with?
Also,what can he do now ? ?

who will move this to front page

Its abundantly clear that the earliest such retrogressive law is jettisoned, the sooner intelligent young Nigerians would pursue their dreams to fruition for the betterment of their generation and the country in particular .

He’s too young for Uni. They should revamp Nigerian education system so that people enter Uni at 18 when they are adults. Parents push children too far and too quickly to enter Uni so that they can score some points amongst their peers. This is why we are dealing with cultism and other vices today. Too many young, impressionable minds in the university who have no business being there.

Una don start. That's how they said the best last year couldn't get into Unilag because he/she was underage.

No be by Best score in jamb o. Enter the uni first then come back and tell me how far