The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has announced the launch of the Exceptionally Brilliant Window, allowing candidates under 16 years of age to sit for the annual Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). Speaking as a guest on the Sunday edition of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political program aired on Channels Television, Oloyede shared his thoughts on the initiative.
He explained that while Nigeria enforces a minimum age of 16 for students to gain entry into tertiary institutions, the board recognizes that there are exceptional students who might be ready for university education at an earlier age. He noted that these students are rare, with such individuals being “one in a million.”
Oloyede elaborated that while 16 remains the standard age requirement, the Exceptionally Brilliant Window was created to accommodate exceptionally gifted students who are under the age of 16. He urged parents of such exceptional candidates to register their children for this special category.
Surprisingly, Oloyede revealed that within just a few days of opening registration, more than 2,000 under-16 candidates had already signed up for the UTME through the exceptional window. He mentioned that some of these candidates were as young as 10, 11, and 12 years old, raising concerns over the authenticity of their ages. The registrar pointed out that certain parents had resorted to dubious methods, including using affidavits to alter their children’s ages, in a bid to fast-track their academic journey.
Oloyede expressed his astonishment at this trend, emphasizing that children cannot grow beyond their biological age. He criticized parents who try to manipulate their children’s age for the sake of prestige, noting that they may be using these achievements to bolster their own social status, with some even bragging about their child graduating at an unusually young age.
