•JSS students
The federal government has announced plans to phase out the policy separating the administration of Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) from Senior Secondary Schools (SSS).
The government described it as a failed reform that has contributed to millions of students dropping out before completing secondary education.
Minister of Education, Dr. Olatunji Alausa, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja during the inauguration of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Ministerial Implementation and Monitoring Committee for Smart Schools, Bilingual Schools and Alternative Schools.
Alausa said the disarticulation policy, which created separate management structures for junior and senior secondary schools, had failed to achieve its intended objectives and would be presented to the National Council on Education (NCE) for review and discontinuation.
According to him, the policy has created unnecessary administrative bottlenecks and weakened students’ transition from junior to senior secondary education.
“I can objectively report today that the disarticulation policy has failed. You cannot continue creating separate management structures simply because you want to create positions. It is not right. It is about doing what is best for our education system,” he said.
The minister said more than 20 million students expected to progress from JSS to SSS were dropping out before completing secondary education, describing the situation as unacceptable.
“We have no problem getting children into junior secondary schools, but transitioning them into senior secondary schools has become a major challenge. This is one of the policies we have to phase out,” he said.
He directed relevant officials in the ministry to prepare a position paper for presentation to the National Council on Education to facilitate the policy change.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr. Aisha Garba, said significant progress had been recorded under the Federal Government’s flagship basic education programmes.
She disclosed that 37 Smart Schools had been established nationwide, with 24 already conducting academic activities, while the remaining schools were at various stages of completion and operational readiness.
Garba said 30 schools had also been established in nine states under the UBEC-Islamic Development Bank Bilingual Education Programme, with three boarding schools completed and commissioned and four others substantially completed and awaiting commissioning.
She added that the Alternative Schools Programme was expanding access to education for out-of-school children through flexible and inclusive learning opportunities.
