Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has explained that the federal government's decision to exempt some courses from the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) was driven by data showing declining enrolment in Colleges of Education, Polytechnics and Agriculture-related programmes across the country.
Speaking on Channels Television's 'Politics Today' programme on Tuesday night, Alausa said the UTME Waiver for some courses will boost tertiary admissions to 1.5 million.
According to him, the policy was designed to revive technical, agricultural and teacher education while expanding access to tertiary education for young Nigerians.
He noted that the exemption applies mainly to non-technology National Diploma programmes, agriculture-related courses and colleges of education offering the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE).
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He said the government decided after discovering that many tertiary institutions, particularly polytechnics and colleges of education, were recording poor admission figures despite huge investments in infrastructure.
"Today, we have about 772 polytechnics and monotechnics across the country. Of these, 482 had fewer than 100 candidates choosing them as their first choice. That represents about 68 per cent of all the polytechnics and monotechnics in the country.
"The appetite among young Nigerians to pursue National Diploma (ND) and National Certificate in Education (NCE) programmes has declined significantly. We have about 255 Colleges of Education, yet many young people are no longer interested in attending them for several reasons.
"Despite the huge infrastructure investments made in these institutions, enrolment has remained low. That is why we have introduced several reforms. Let me go ahead and limit this conversation to the Colleges of Education to avoid confusion.
"One of the major changes we introduced is the dual mandate policy for Colleges of Education. Since its introduction, the policy has resulted in almost 100 per cent uptake compared to last year alone, the Minister added.
He explained that the reform removes the need for candidates to sit for UTME before progressing into the university phase of the programme.
"Anybody who goes into our colleges of education now can move seamlessly from NCE to Bachelor of Education without writing UTME again," he said.
According to the Minister, the reform has increased enrolment in federal colleges of education, with several state-owned institutions also preparing to adopt the system from the 2026 academic session.
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Alausa added that the administration was also overhauling the curriculum in colleges of education to include courses such as Artificial Intelligence and Education, Computer Science and Education, Engineering and Education, and entrepreneurship training. He said the broader objective was to produce highly skilled teachers while also equipping graduates with employable technical and entrepreneurial skills.
"We are broadening opportunities for these young people. Beyond teaching, they can become software engineers, innovators and entrepreneurs, he stated.
The Ministers closed that the number of students studying abroad has decreased, saying that tertiary education in the country is better now. "W" have academic session continuity, and we are investing so much."
