Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has defended the Federal Government’s decision to exempt candidates seeking admission into Colleges of Education and some agricultural-related programmes in polytechnics from sitting the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), saying the move is aimed at tackling Nigeria’s growing population of out-of-school adolescents and building a skilled workforce.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, Alausa said the reform was driven by data and designed to expand access to education while equipping young Nigerians with employable and entrepreneurial skills.
According to him, Nigeria’s youthful population presents an opportunity that must not be wasted.
“Seventy per cent of Nigerians are below 30 years old, and almost 60 per cent are below 20 years old. We need to turn that into a demographic dividend for the country,” he said.
“We have the problem of out-of-school children, and the way the system was designed before these changes, we were creating another layer of out-of-school adolescents. If we let this continue, the demographic dividend we stand to gain will be obliterated.”
Alausa explained that under the new arrangement, students seeking admission into Colleges of Education or non-technology agricultural programmes in polytechnics and monotechnics would no longer be required to sit for UTME.
However, he clarified that candidates seeking admission into technology-based programmes such as agricultural engineering would still go through JAMB.
The minister said the decision followed alarming enrollment statistics across tertiary institutions.
“Today, we have about 772 polytechnics and monotechnics across the country. About 482 of them had less than 100 students choosing them as first choice. That is about 62 per cent,” he said.
“For Colleges of Education, we have about 255 institutions, both public and private, and 214 of them had fewer than 100 first-choice applicants. That represents about 84 per cent.”
He noted that the Federal Government had already introduced a “dual mandate” system in federal Colleges of Education to improve enrollment and create pathways for students to obtain both NCE and university degrees.
Under the system, students spend three years earning an NCE certificate and may proceed directly into a two-year Bachelor of Education programme if they meet university admission requirements.
“Five years, you get both an NCE and a Bachelor of Education degree,” Alausa explained.
He disclosed that the reform had already triggered a significant rise in enrollment in Colleges of Education.
The minister also revealed that the government had modernised curricula in Colleges of Education to include courses such as Artificial Intelligence and Education, Computer Science and Education, and Engineering Education.
“We are broadening opportunities. Students can become teachers, software engineers or entrepreneurs,” he said.
Alausa further linked the policy to the government’s food security agenda, saying agricultural courses across tertiary institutions were also undergoing curriculum review to align with modern practices such as greenhouse farming and commodity trading.
On concerns that the removal of UTME requirements could reduce admission quality, the minister insisted that the government had developed strict quality assurance mechanisms and a 14-point implementation guideline for institutions.
“We are not just creating policies. We are solving problems using data,” he said.
The minister also defended recent education reforms under the Tinubu administration, including changes to admission requirements and expansion of technical and vocational education.
According to him, reforms introduced last year increased admissions into tertiary institutions from about 770,000 students annually to 1.1 million.
He projected that the latest reforms could push admissions to 1.5 million students.
Alausa maintained that the administration’s long-term goal was to move Nigeria from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy driven by STEM education, vocational skills and entrepreneurship.
Nigeria Needs Skilled Youth, Not More Out-Of-School Adolescents – Alausa is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
