By Ghazali Ibrahim
The Federal Government has announced plans to scrap the policy separating Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) from Senior Secondary Schools (SSS), citing its contribution to Nigeria’s growing school dropout crisis.
Minister of Education, Dr. 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, the current structure has left millions of children out of school, with a significant gap between the number of primary and junior secondary institutions across the country.
“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, particularly in Kaduna and other northern states, remain underutilised.
Alausa described the policy of operating JSS and SSS as separate entities with different principals and administrative structures as a failure that needs urgent correction.
“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 stated.
The minister said the proposal to abolish the separation policy would be presented at the next meeting of the National Council on Education for consideration.
He noted that the move is aimed at improving access to education and increasing the number of students who successfully transition to senior secondary school.
“This government will not fail. We are fixing it,” Alausa added.
At the event, the minister also inaugurated a committee chaired by Prof. Rashid Aderinoye to monitor UBEC-funded smart schools, bilingual schools and alternative schools nationwide.
The committee is expected to ensure that the projects are completed, handed over to state governments and opened for academic activities.
Alausa lamented that several schools built with public funds remain uncompleted or have yet to admit students, describing the situation as a waste of scarce government resources.
