The federal government says senior secondary school students in the arts and humanities will no longer be required to present a credit in mathematics in their Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) for tertiary admissions.

This is contained in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja by the spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of Education, Folasade Boriowo.

According to Ms Boriowo, the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, stated that the reform became necessary after years of restricted access, which denied many qualified candidates admission opportunities.

Mr Alausa said the move was a deliberate effort to expand access to tertiary education, noting that while over two million candidates sit the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) annually, only about 700,000 gain admission.

He said the revised National Guidelines for Entry Requirements into Nigerian Tertiary Institutions were designed to remove barriers while maintaining academic standards.

According to him, under the new framework, universities will require a minimum of five credit passes in relevant subjects, including English Language, obtained in not more than two sittings.

He said mathematics remains mandatory only for science, technology, and social science courses.

For polytechnics, a minimum of four credit passes in relevant subjects will be required, including English Language for non-science courses and Mathematics for science-related programmes.

Colleges of education will also require a minimum of four credit passes, with English Language mandatory for arts and social science courses and Mathematics for science, vocational, and technical programmes.

Mr Alausa said innovation enterprise academies would adopt the same entry standards as polytechnics for the National Diploma (ND) programme.

“The National Innovation Diploma (NID) would be phased out and replaced with the ND to ensure uniformity, credibility, and progression opportunities for graduates,” the minister said.

He added that the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) is currently re-accrediting all Innovation Enterprise Academies across the country to align with the new ND standards.

The minister said the reform would enable an additional 250,000 to 300,000 students to gain admission each year, thereby reducing the number of out-of-school youths and strengthening vocational and technical education.

He said the initiative reflects the federal government’s commitment to fairness, inclusion, and alignment of Nigeria’s tertiary education system with global and industry standards.

(NAN)