The Federal Government has banned underaged children from participating in the National Common Entrance Examination for admission into the Unity Schools across the country.
The government has accordingly directed the National Examination Council (NECO) to put strict measures in place to prevent underage persons from registering for the examination, including making birth certificates compulsory as a registration requirement.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. David Andrew Adejo, gave the directive on Saturday in Abuja while monitoring the conduct of the 2023 Common Entrance Examination into the 110 Federal Government Colleges across the Federation.
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A total of 72,821 candidates sat for the examination on Saturday nationwide.
Adejo noted that to get into secondary, a candidate should be at least 12 years, adding that one could be eleven plus during the examination, and by September, such a person would have attained the age of 12 years.
The Permanent Secretary after monitoring the exercise at the Federal Government Girls College, Bwari, and Government Day Secondary School, Bwari, said he was unhappy to see many underage persons taking the examination.
He insisted that less than eleven years was unacceptable, disclosing that Airforce Schools, among others, do not accept candidates less than twelve years for admission into their schools.
NECO Registrar, Professor Dantani Wushishi, said the conduct of the examination was generally smooth and orderly, saying from the reports gotten from across the country, the examination went on hitch-free.
While confirming that 72,821 candidates registered for the 2023 National Common Entrance Examination, Wushishi disclosed that Lagos State had the highest number of enrollment followed by FCT, while the State with the lowest registration Kebbi, has about 115 registered candidates.
(Editor: Nkoli Omhoudu)
