The Federal Government has announced plans to scrap the policy separating Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) from Senior Secondary Schools (SSS), saying the arrangement has contributed to the growing number of out-of-school children in Nigeria.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja during the inauguration of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Ministerial Implementation and Monitoring Committee.
According to the minister, more than 20 million pupils drop out between primary school and junior secondary school, a situation he said shows that the current education structure is no longer effective.
“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,” Alausa said.
He explained that the shortage of junior secondary schools has led to overcrowded classrooms, while many senior secondary schools, especially in Kaduna and other northern states, remain underutilised.
Alausa said the policy of operating JSS and SSS as separate schools, each with different principals and facilities, has failed and should be phased out.
“This disarticulation policy has failed. We will phase it out. We can’t be creating positions because we want to create a director level for people while we harm our education system. It’s about doing what is best for every Nigerian child,” he said.
The minister disclosed that the proposal to abolish the policy will be presented at the next meeting of the National Council on Education for consideration.
He said the reform is intended to improve access to education, reduce dropout rates and ensure that more students transition successfully to senior secondary school.
Alausa also inaugurated a committee chaired by Rashid Aderinoye to monitor UBEC-funded smart schools, bilingual schools and alternative schools nationwide.
According to him, the committee will ensure the projects are completed, handed over to state governments and opened for learning.
The minister noted that many schools built with public funds remain uncompleted or have yet to admit students, describing the situation as a waste of government resources.
