The Nigerian government has announced that mathematics will no longer be a compulsory subject for students seeking admission into tertiary institutions to study non-science courses.
The policy change, announced on Tuesday by the Federal Ministry of Education, marks a significant shift in the country’s admission requirements for universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and innovation enterprise academies (IEAs).
According to the statement signed by the ministry’s spokesperson, Folashade Boriowo, the decision follows a comprehensive review of Nigeria’s tertiary school admission framework aimed at widening access to higher education.
In the statement, the minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, said the review was introduced to “democratise access to tertiary education and empower Nigerian youths.”
“Every year, over two million candidates sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), yet only about 700,000 gain admission,” he said.
“This imbalance is not due to a lack of ability but rather to outdated and overly stringent entry requirements that must give way to fairness and opportunity.”
Under the new policy, applicants to universities must obtain at least five credit passes in relevant subjects, including English, in not more than two sittings. Mathematics will remain compulsory for science, technology, and social science courses but is no longer required for arts or humanities programmes.
For polytechnics, students must have at least four credit passes in relevant subjects including English for non-science courses and mathematics for science-related ones. At the Higher National Diploma (HND) level, five credit passes are required, including both English and mathematics.
For colleges of education, students seeking the NCE level must have four credit passes in relevant subjects, with English mandatory for arts and social sciences, and mathematics required for science, vocational, and technical courses. Those seeking admission into B.Ed programmes will need five credit passes, including English and mathematics, depending on the course.
Innovation enterprise academies are to adopt the same minimum requirements as polytechnics for the National Diploma (ND) programme. The government also announced the abolition of the National Innovation Diploma (NID).
The new framework is expected to take effect in the next admission cycle across all accredited higher institutions in Nigeria.