The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has granted tertiary institutions in the country the permission to admit candidates who will be 16 years old by August 31, 2025.
The board, in a letter to the institutions, said the effort is to ensure equity because those whose 2024 admission would last till August 2025 would not be unduly favoured.
Recall that the issue of the minimum age for admission in the nation’s tertiary institutions was deliberated and decided on at the 2024 Policy Meeting to be 16 years old for the 2024/25 academic session. Subsequently, the cut-off date was put as December 31, 2024.
The letter read: “The board has taken cognizance that, due to different reasons, some institutions expect the 2024/2025 admission to run through July 2025.
“Without compromising the standard or infringing on the individual institution’s admission policy, the board has now decided to allow any willing institution to admit candidates who will be 16 years old by the 31st of August 2025, so long as the standards set by the institution qualify such candidates but couldn’t be admitted only because of age.
“This is without prejudice to the decision of any institution that might have on its own, decided on the minimum age of not less than 16 years which remains sacrosanct.”
It further read: “By this development, you are requested to harvest from your CAPS and send the list of candidates who would be 16 years of age between 1st of January and 31st of August 2025 who are eligible for admission (if any), not later than a week from the date on this letter to enable final decision.”
The board however noted that any institution that insists on its 16 years being within the year 2024 is free to do so.
