The Federal Government, Tuesday, directed the overhaul of Nigeria’s education structure as more than 20 million children who enrolled in primary schools dropped out before senior secondary school.
Minister of Education, Dr. Moruf Tunji Alausa, announced this during the inauguration of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Ministerial Implementation and Monitoring Committee in Abuja.
9News Nigeria reports that Nigeria operates a formal education framework generally referred to as the 6-3-3-4 system, which consists of 6 years of primary education, 3 years of junior secondary school, 3 years of senior secondary school, and a minimum of 4 years of tertiary education.
Dr. Alausa however, stated that the arrangement separating Junior Secondary Schools (JSS), from Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) had failed and contributed to the alarming number of out-of-school Children.
He said findings by the government showed that while Nigeria has about 80,000 Public Primary Schools, there are only about 15,000 Junior Secondary Schools, creating a huge transition gap that has left million’s of children stranded after completing primary education.
According to the Minister, the policy requiring JSS and SSS to operate as separate institutions has worsened access to education but overcrowding junior secondary schools while leaving many senior secondary schools underutilised.
He said successive governments had failed to adequately address the problem but assured that the Tinubu administration was determined to reverse the trend by expaning access to Basic education.
Dr. Alausa cited evidence from several northern states showing that disarticulation policy created unnecessary administrative structures at the expense of students.
“We have overflowing junior secondary school’s and empty senior secondary schools. I can objectively report that this disarticulation policy has failed. We will phase it out. We cannot continue creating administrative positions while damaging our education system. It is about doing what is best for every Nigenan child”, he said.
Alausa disclosed that the proposal to abolish the policy would be presented at the next meeting of the National Council on Education for formal consideration.
He also inaugurated a high-powered committee chaired by renowned education expert, Professor Rashid Aderinoye to fast-track the completion, handover and operationalisation of hundreds of Smart Schools, Bilingual Schools and Alternative Schools funded by UBEC across the country.
The Minister lamented that despite huge public investment, many of the schools remained abandoned, while several completed projects had yet to be handed over to state governments or opened for academic activities, describing the situation as a waste of scare public resources and a denial of learning opportunities to thousands of Nigeria children.
-9News Nigeria.
