SUPERPACK:
So the 8 year old started nursery 1 in the womb or what? Let him spend the four years any how he wants as punishment for jumping classes massively.

shekhaz:
This is a welcome development but it needs to get to employers of labour as well. They only recruit young graduate of 21. How can a child finish secondary school at age 18 and complete higher education in 3 years?
I am happy with what Lagos state has decided but 11 years is better. The private schools are the main source of this problem. I work in a school where a boy of 8 was admitted into jss1 just because his father can afford to pay the school fees.
My only problem with this directive is how will they enforce compliance? Parents threaten withdrawal in school and force school owners to admit toddlers to secondary school.
There was even a mother that told me upfront that her daughter must leave primary school at age 9. She can't afford to be spending so much tuition in primary school. Then again, the federal government needs to join this to make it work. A parent can easily take their child to Ogun state for admission or any other state. It should be enforced by the federal ministry of education

The employers of labour will adjust to the new normal.

proffemi:


Very good move! Where are they rushing to?

As a university teacher, I know that one of the reasons we have so many half-baked graduates is that many of them were rushed into the universities, immature, and having not had any time to grow as human beings or discover themselves. Many university students have no idea what they intend to do with their lives, so when the training wheels of the educational system come off, they are lost. Tertiary education only gives you the tools to shape what you have inside you into something valuable to you and to society.

I think this will make that easier.

Fallacious argument

"As a university teacher "

If indeed you are what you claim you would recognise the fallacious and unscientific nature of such an argument.
That is just like saying

As a Nigerian ...... I know the problem and solution to Nigeria's problems

There are as many opinions as there are Lecturers

Maybe the problem is half baked Lecturers and not kids being rushed. Who knows

Without evidence that is just speculation.
I thought the university system encourages rational evidence based thinking

Is this 12yr old limit the solution to the problem you describe?
Evidence?
International practice?

amaniro:



I swear same here. I also entered Js1 at 10 nothing bad . It should be 10 not 12 graduating from sec school at 16. Maybe its because of this our "age is maturity" mentality that chinese kids are making strives in Tech and our teens are busy making tictok videos

@ the bolded, you just contradicted yourself with the Chinese kids analogy.

In China, no child is ever allowed to start grade 1 if they’re not yet 6 years old and all chinese kids take the college entrance exam 高考 at 17-18. Any child less than 17 will have to wait for one year before trying the college entrance exam.

The policy isn’t a bad one but for it to be considered, the government should take care of the delays children face before gaining admission into the university.

If every child is guaranteed a seat in the university immediately after high school, the fear of most parents would be overcome because at 23 the person would have been through with NYSC and that’s a very good age to start life.

adanny01:


Why should there be an 8yr old in primary 6?

6 yrs of primary school, 3 yrs of nursery and 1 yr of prenursery which makes 10yrs if the child started as an infant straight from the labour room.

Lets face the truth, private schools have destabilized the educational system in Nigeria.

I am a private primary school graduate and never did Primary 6 in the early 90's. I know what I missed and how bullied I was in JSS 1. I had to change school in JSS 2 and by choice came back to JSS 1.

A friend of mine whose child is 7 nearly a yr younger than my 8yr old is in Primary 3 in Abj while mine is in Primary 2 in Kaduna even when mine started school before his. My friend is not concerned about anything, he is only happy his child will be on the secondary sch at 10. My friend makes me feel bad that my older son would be through with secondary school at 17. I really desire my child to go through the entire classes of the educational system but my friend cares less. My son's school have a policy of compelling their children and parents to keep the children till primary 6 but parents are unwilling. This situation is alarming.

Those who should skip a class or 2 are supposed to be geniuses who should have a special school or being home schooled.

The bolded is the exact problem we're facing in the educational system, there's always a private school ready to accept your lad into any class as long as you can pay. Kudos to you for doing the right thing.

They should even make it 15 so that some of these youths can have some sense by the time they enter university.

Because the things wey I dey see working with all these small small children for university dey taya me, aswear.

Christianvoice:

It is not a new policy. 2004 National Educational policy had introduced what we called ECCED, age 0-6-12. So Lagos State just implemented it. Am talking as an educationist.

in Nigeria of today...it is stupid to allow children to reach 12yrs before entering jss1.....11yrs is ok....in Nigeria when you finish school getting a job is by God grace...at times through connection... it better to finish University at say 24. ...and begin to figure out how to succeed than entering secondary school at 12...then Uni at what age....ASUU will still cause another set of delay.... now in Nigeria you have 30yrs old who cannot even feed themselves ...hmnnn..... I will discourage anything than waste a man,s time.. ..... last last nah poor people children go suffer am .....12yrs in Jss okay o

0m0nnakoda:

I am a genius

Seriously

The point is that this kind of policy should be debated
The age in the UK you mention is 11
How did we arrive at 12 and why impose it on private schools without public debate

In UK, a child is expected to round off secondary school at 16 and then proceed to college where they are taken through A Level for two years. This is what is done in England, and other nations of the UK might have some little modifications. I am not completely certain of the whole stuff but nobody is rushing anywhere here. There are different routes to the top and you are mature for every stage.

Kennydoc:


It's not a big deal. I started primary 1 at 4 years of age and finished at 10 years. I finished secondary school at 16, which wasn't necessarily too fast in my days, as there were many who also finished at 16. Even though I was physically smallish in my school days, I was never mentally or cognitively deficient.

I also finished at 16, my point is there are parents who intentionally skip classes for their children just to meet up with others, that is very wrong. I gave an example of my aunt who thinks her child should be in Pry 1 just because she's 4 years old.. it shouldn't be like that, what is wrong in letting her get into primary 1 when she's supposed to, instead she wants to change her school in other to achieve it.

SmartyPants:


It is not punishment but protection. Children should be allowed to go through development stages at a normal pace.



I was in SS1 at the age of 12.

0m0nnakoda:


Fallacious argument

"As a university teacher "

If indeed you are what you claim you would recognise the fallacious and unscientific nature of such an argument.
That is just like saying

As a Nigerian ...... I know the problem and solution to Nigeria's problems

There are as many opinions as there are Lecturers

Maybe the problem is half baked Lecturers and not kids being rushed. Who knows

Without evidence that is just speculation.
I thought the university system encourages rational evidence based thinking

Is this 12yr old limit the solution to the problem you describe?
Evidence?
International practice?

Lol. I have been watching your comments, but decided to ignore you.

Educational systems are not designed based on the opinions and intuitions of individuals. Cognitive and educational psychology are serious, matured disciplines. It may interest you to know that my opinions are not just based on subjective personal experience, but on years of training and research related to cognitive/educational psychology.

Edit: by the way, yes, the problem of half-baked graduates may also be due to half-baked lecturers, just as it is CERTAINLY partly due to students who form ITK where they would have been better served learning from, and listening to experts. Like you.

david22uu:


The university age is 16years... Lets leave parents
12 + 6 years = 18
18 + another 6 years is 24years...
most graduate entry jobs are peged at 24years
so if u dont enter university immediately after u will never get a good job

so this age is nonsense... i think it should be 10 years


NOw all of una wey go University at 20 years are you better off... answer o

Bunch of failed policy

So because of this your calculations, parents are encouraged to keep skipping classes for their children just so they can get into the university at 16? If the child is a genius, why not... If the government wants to correct any of this, let them start fixing it from Nursery school, reduce the age qualification and let the kids start learning early.

I love this!!!

Staphylococcus:
Nice move.

stwepid move regarding admission system

This won't work for private I tell u

seunayantokun:

In UK, a child is expected to round off secondary school at 16 and then proceed to college where they are taken through A Level for two years. This is what is done in England, and other nations of the UK might have some little modifications. I am not completely certain of the whole stuff but nobody is rushing anywhere here. There are different routes to the top and you are mature for every stage.

With this policy people will leave school at 18
SSS is O level not A levels

The UK practices our old system which Obasanjo changed in 1976
Then you left school after 5 years and entered the university via JAMB or A levels what they call College in the UK

I think we should return to that I don't understand why O levels should be 6 years. It used to be 5 until 1986

starstaz:
For as long we are together in this Boat called Nigeria , please shine your eyes very well.

These policies as good as it may appear on paper is targeted on the Emerging Middle class. May I ask who will be the beneficiary of this policy down the line: say ten or a decade from now, it will be our elite children schooling in Europe and America. They set laws for us and never for once obey such laws. I will give u korona or Covid examples.

When Abba kyari came back from Germany, Did he isolates himself for 14 Days ditto Atiku Abubakar son Ditto all our Senators and HoRep. Kyari even wrote an open letter to the speaker complaining bitterly how members of the National assembly dissed being checked by medical personal at the airport. I can cite similar examples on and on. My people shine ur eyes.

I keep coming back to this thread.

We are not seeing the bigger picture.

proffemi:


The employers of labour will adjust to the new normal.

Is this a joke?

When there will be rich kids everywhere to fill the slot.

Just sit and look.

bukatyne:


Is this a joke?

When there will be rich kids everywhere to fill the slot.

Just sit and look.

No, it is not a joke. Lagos is just correcting a serious error in the system. Things will also tighten up nationally, and the Industry will indeed adjust to the new normal.

0m0nnakoda:

In a democracy such policy should be debated that is why we have public hearing as part of law making.
Government is not our parents

It is not new policy. It was introduced by National Educational policy in 2004. So Lagos State just implemented it. I am an educationist.

sucess001:
Doesn't make sense. We are in a digital age and age doesn't equal maturity. So you force Lagos based kids to become 18 before leaving secondary schools when in other climes, by 18 you have a degree...

Please in which climes do you get a degree by 18.

Get your facts right, a lot of advanced countries have age restrictions into all levels of education especially for their citizens. Education is well regulated.

In most of those climes you’re talking about, the age of graduation from high school is usually 17-18. It’s in Nigeria I saw kids graduating at 14.

The rule as good as it is, should not be effected without first sorting out the issue of late admission into the university. Every jambite should be granted admission of some sort into either the university, polytechnic or college of education to study any course that their scores can get them. That way, they keep moving.

In some countries, lower scoring candidates are sent to lower ranking schools. That way, almost everyone gets admitted. If you want a higher ranking university and a better course, you study harder. This is the chinese system and it’s working for them. The point is,they don’t accept underaged kids into school at any level.

proffemi:


Lol. I have been watching your comments, but decided to ignore you.

Educational systems are not designed based on the opinions and intuitions of individuals. Cognitive and educational psychology are serious, matured disciplines. It may interest you to know that my opinions are not just based on subjective personal experience, but on years of training and research related to cognitive/educational psychology.

Edit: by the way, yes, the problem of half-baked graduates may also be due to half-baked lecturers, just as it is CERTAINLY partly due to students who form ITK where they would have been better served learning from, and listening to experts. Like you.

After all that dissertation you did not address whether there is evidence that changing secondary school admission age to 12 will fix the problem and what evidence there is for that
You contradict yourself

Was it that same matured design that is producing the half baked graduates you were lamenting about?

DBestDoc:


@ the bolded, you just contradicted yourself with the Chinese kids analogy.

I lived in China for many years and I can tell you that no child is ever allowed to start grade 1 if they’re not yet 6 years old and all chinese kids take the college entrance exam 高考 at 17-18. Any child less than 17 will have to wait for one year before trying the college entrance exam.

The policy isn’t a bad one but for it to be considered, the government should take care of the delays children face before gaining admission into the university.

If every child is guaranteed a seat in the university immediately after high school, the fear of most parents would be overcome because at 23 the person would have been through with NYSC and that’s a very good age to start life.

So we all finally concluded that its a bad policy right?There are much better educational policy than that age peg bullshit. How about wheeping kids?thats a crime in South Africa. But we in Nigeria still wheep our children like cows.

haaaaaaaaa:
So that they will graduate and not have the opportunity to work in multinationals like KPMG, Accenture etc. Wicked human beings

They will adjust their requirements.

Nonsense. Why not enforce academic standards and if a 10 year is good enough then so be it.

Our journey is long with this kind of lack of focus by the government. Every issue requires blunt force to solve. Clueless!

Christianvoice:

It is not new policy. It was introduced by National Educational policy in 2004. So Lagos State just implemented it. I am an educationist.

What is the status quo? It is new
Does the policy mention private schools?

0m0nnakoda:

After all that dissertation you did not address whether there is evidence that changing secondary school admission age to 12 will fix the problem and what evidence there is for that
You contradict yourself

Was it that same matured design that is producing the half baked graduates you were lamenting about? D

What do you mean by contradicting myself? The evidence we need exists in DOZENS, if not scores of studies that show that learning outcomes are better when learning takes cognizance of all aspects of personality development. I do not even have a single reference to give you because this is an established fact in the discipline!

You mentioned international best practices.

Do you have the tiniest glimmer of an idea what international best practices are in this area?
And yet, you want your opinion to override decades of cognitive and educational psychology research Do you see why I think you are an ITK?

Good one
I remembered entry secondary school at the age of 9 after jumping 5 and 6, at first I cope cos my primary foundation was at bit soild, what threw me off balance was wen my eger father jump me from ss1 to ss2, after jss3 I was to Start from ss1 which I did in same school, later he decided to change my school only for my dad to tell the new principal that I was in ss2 hmmmmm� I was like egugu don enter express o, bck to class hmmmm I go just they look like who lost, everything was totally strange cos no foundation, see my papa ask me to collect all ss1 note n study I Sha took 45 to the last position at the end n change it to 5 position with the help of my new frnds in my new school, seeing the result my dad was very proud n I graduated at the age of 14 + lol

National Educational policy introduced into UBE ECCED(Early Child Care Education Development) in 2014. That a Nigerian child has a right to go school from age 0. Break down: O-3 creche, etc 12. Before secondary School. So Lagos State just implemented the 2004 policy.

I thought the government was now running a 9-3-4 system?

So, JSS1 is thanks and void, is it not? Pupils just go from Grade 1-9, before they have to write an exam for SS1.

How will they peg the age then?

shekhaz:

I didn't study education but I have been teaching for 7 years now. I can say for a fact that we always enjoy mature students in JSS 1 that were age 10 or 11. This is because they had learnt almost everything they need to know. It makes teaching them fun and easy. Those ones that left from pry4 are the ones that struggle. I am not saying we don't have those ones who struggle even at age 11 but it is better as all student are not the same

That's the point am trying to communicate. The more mature your class, the more easier to relate and impact knowledge to learner. The learning methodology is straightforward compared to when you have big gaps in age group. Am just speaking of the whole process till university cos as long as the continue, even after surviving high school, they still don't complete the JSS and even the SSS. I see one jump from JSS2 to SS1 while many jump from SS2 to uni, where parents pay anything to gain admission... Then you see someone who isn't ready for campus life being jump started while not appreciating the jump.

Lucky5000:
I laugh
Now parents will be forced to reduce their children's age

Hope it won't be football age now

I think the temptation will be to increase it. But that's funny.