In response to the recent announcement made by the Nigerian Minister of Education that the NECO and WAEC would no longer permit minors to take exams, the founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola stated that they had students who enrolled at the age of fifteen and graduated with honors at the age of nineteen.....CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE
They also stated that they would keep admitting students at the age of fifteen.
According to Punch Newspaper, the Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola said “To me, the issue of age is a matter of discretion for the university, and let me say that we have been doing it here. We have students who came to ABUAD at 15 and graduated with First class at the age of 19 and we will continue to do it.
We do not forge with our own hands the chain that will hamper the development of our gifted children. The minimum age requirement should also give universities the discretion to admit children below the age of 16 who are endowed with exceptional ability. University autonomy includes among other things the discretion to waive the minimum age requirements for students who pass the minimum admission requirements and possess exceptional academic potentials.”
Aare Afe Babalola added that he was not shocked that no citizens of the country was named among the young achievers in the world, and that was because there were strategic policies that suspended the laudable achievements of brilliant young minds till later ages. He also added that the university must decide to exercise their discretion and they could not take that discretion from the Nigerian Ministry of Education.
