Education secretariat warns schools against admission of under-aged children

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Department of Quality Assurance, Education Secretariat, has warned schools against admission of under-aged children, especially into primary one and Junior Secondary School (JSS 1) classes. Mr Salihu Yahaya, the Acting Director, Department of Quality Assurance, Education Secretariat, FCT, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) […]

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Department of Quality Assurance, Education Secretariat, has warned schools against admission of under-aged children, especially into primary one and Junior Secondary School (JSS 1) classes.
Mr Salihu Yahaya, the Acting Director, Department of Quality Assurance, Education Secretariat, FCT, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.
Yahaya said that many schools were contravening the whole process of admission and withdrawal of children, adding that schools admit children without the required documents.
“For a child to be admitted into school, a transfer certificate is required.
“It is this certificate that will specify the child’s level of education for proper placement.
“But many schools admit children without the required documents such as birth certificate and other relevant certificates.
“So, we are insisting now as government that the requirements for admission and transfer must be met by all schools, and we are designing special station modules to address all this,’’ he said.
Yahaya said that a team would start to visit schools to inspect their admissions’ records as well as the students’ files to ensure the right process is followed.
According to him, the FCT educational guidelines specify the age at which a child should start each level of education.
“A child is supposed to complete primary school between ages 10 years and 11 years, and enter JSS1 at 11 or 12 years old; he or she is expected to finish secondary school at 17 years or 18 years.
“But what we have discovered in recent years is that schools now admit children without considering their age.
“Some of these children are not socially and mentally developed enough for the classes they are being rushed into,’’ he said.
The director said that the curriculum was designed based on the age of the child among other criteria.
He said: “if you rush a child beyond that age you will be creating a problem not only for the child, but also for the system.’’
According to him, the curriculum is designed to ensure that a child from nursery to primary six covers different topics in the curriculum until he or she graduates.
Yahaya said that the department was sensitising the public school system where it was not as relevant as it should be to avoid under-aged admission.
He stressed that this was more important as some of children who leave private schools end up in public schools.
The director said that as a government agency, efforts would still be more on schools to ensure they comply with extant policy and guidelines on education.
He noted that the idea of rushing students was against the national policy, the national curriculum and FCT educational guidelines.