JAMB Opens ‘Exceptionally Brilliant’ Window for Candidates Under 16

 

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has announced a special provision known as the Exceptionally Brilliant Window for candidates below 16 years old who wish to sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

 

Prof. Oloyede made this disclosure while speaking as a guest on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme aired on Channels Television on Sunday.

 

He emphasized that while the board maintains the 16-year minimum entry age for tertiary institutions, an exception has been introduced for candidates who demonstrate outstanding academic abilities.

 

“In Nigeria, we have many brilliant students. We are enforcing the 16-year minimum entry into tertiary institutions, but some people argue that there are exceptional students. Yes, there are, but they are just one in a million,” Oloyede stated.

 

The JAMB Registrar explained that candidates under 16 who consider themselves exceptional can now register under the newly created category. However, he expressed concern over the increasing number of underage students being presented for tertiary education by their parents.

 

“I’m surprised that just from Monday till now, over 2,000 candidates have registered across the country. Some of them are as young as 10, 11, and 12, whose parents have manipulated their academic progression to make them appear ahead of their actual biological growth,” he revealed.

 

According to Oloyede, some parents have resorted to falsifying their children’s ages and using affidavits to push them into higher academic levels prematurely.

 

“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 remarked.