Federal Government says it will phase out the policy separating Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) from Senior Secondary Schools (SSS), following evidence that millions of pupils drop out before progressing to the senior secondary level.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, announced the decision on Tuesday in Abuja during the inauguration of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Ministerial Implementation and Monitoring Committee.
Alausa said the policy, which requires junior and senior secondary schools to operate separately with different principals and facilities, had failed to achieve its intended objectives.
According to him, available data indicates that more than 20 million pupils fail to transition from primary school to junior secondary school.
“We have 20 million dropouts from primary school to JSS. Where are those students?
“We also found we have 80,000 public primary schools and only about 15,000 junior secondary schools. That’s a one-to-eight ratio,” he said.
The minister said the disparity had resulted in overcrowding in junior secondary schools while many senior secondary schools remained underutilised.
He cited Kaduna and other northern states as examples where the imbalance has negatively affected access to education.
“This disarticulation policy has failed. We will phase it out.
“We can’t be creating positions because we want to create a director-level position for people while we harm our education system. It’s about doing what is best for every Nigerian child,” Alausa said.
He disclosed that a proposal to abolish the policy would be presented at the next meeting of the National Council on Education for consideration.
According to him, the planned reform is aimed at improving access to education, increasing transition rates and enhancing learning outcomes across the country.
The minister also inaugurated a committee chaired by Prof. Rashid Aderinoye to monitor the implementation of UBEC-funded Smart Schools, Bilingual Schools and Alternative Schools nationwide.
He said the committee would ensure that completed projects are handed over to state governments and opened for teaching and learning.
Alausa expressed concern that many of the schools funded by UBEC remain uncompleted or have yet to admit learners, describing the situation as an inefficient use of public resources.
He reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to addressing the country’s out-of-school children challenge through improved infrastructure, better utilisation of educational facilities and reforms aimed at expanding access to quality education.
