Federal Government Launches New Education Policy Targeting Age, Non-State Schools. The Federal Ministry of Education has announced a new directive pegging the minimum age for admission into Junior Secondary School (JSS1) at 12 years. This is part of a new policy document for Non-State Schools, launched last week in Abuja.

According to the ministry, pupils must complete six years of primary education and reach 12 years of age before they are eligible for JSS1 admission.

Breakdown of the New Age Structure

The policy clarifies the progression from early childhood to junior secondary education as follows:

Nursery One: Age 3
Nursery Two: Age 4
Kindergarten (Pre-primary): Age 5
Primary One: Age 6
Junior Secondary School (JSS1): Age 12

The new regulation aligns with the 2013 edition of the National Policy on Education (NPE), Section 2(17), which stipulates a total of nine years of basic education—six years in primary and three in junior secondary.

Implications for University Entry

With the implementation of this policy, students are expected to complete secondary education around age 18, positioning them appropriately for tertiary institution entry. This comes amid recent debates over minimum age requirements for university admission in Nigeria.

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Former Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, previously set the minimum university entry age at 18 years, but the current Minister, Dr. Tunji Alausa, reversed it back to 16 years.

Non-State Schools on the Rise

The policy also spotlighted the rapid growth of non-state (private) schools in Nigeria, which include institutions not managed by the government but funded through tuition fees, donations, religious bodies, and private organizations.

Key stats from the Nigeria Education Digest 2022 reveal:

Non-state schools outnumber state schools at the junior secondary level in 26 states.
At the primary level, state schools outnumber non-state schools in 19 states.
From 2017 to 2022, the number of non-state primary schools increased by 31.56%, while state schools grew by just 3.3%.
For junior secondary schools, non-state schools grew by 35.06%, compared to 6.8% for state schools.

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