The Federal Government has announced plans to phase out the policy separating Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) from Senior Secondary Schools (SSS), with Minister of Education Tunji Alausa describing the arrangement as unsuccessful.
Speaking on Tuesday in Abuja during the inauguration of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) ministerial implementation and monitoring committee, Alausa said the disarticulation policy had failed to achieve its intended goals.
According to the minister, the system, which requires junior and senior secondary schools to operate separately both physically and administratively, has created more problems than solutions.
“We’re seeing data from states like Kaduna and other northern states because you have one principal for junior secondary schools and another principal for senior secondary schools,” he said.
“We have overflowing JSS and empty senior secondary schools. So, I can objectively report today that this disarticulation policy has failed. We will phase it out.”
Alausa also criticised the creation of additional administrative positions under the policy, arguing that such decisions should not come at the expense of improving education for Nigerian children.
The minister linked the policy to the widening gap in school enrolment between primary and secondary education, revealing that more than 20 million pupils who started primary school failed to progress to senior secondary education after dropping out along the way.
He said Nigeria currently has about 80,000 public primary schools but only around 15,000 junior secondary schools, creating a significant imbalance in access to education.
“We have 20 million dropouts from primary school to JSS. Where are those students?” he asked.
He added that the current administration was determined to address the challenge by expanding access to secondary education and making better use of existing school infrastructure.
Alausa also said the newly inaugurated UBEC implementation and monitoring committee had been tasked with ensuring that smart schools, bilingual schools and alternative schools funded by UBEC are completed, handed over to state governments and opened for learning.
The minister noted that despite substantial funding released by UBEC, many education projects remain unfinished, while several completed schools have yet to be transferred to state authorities or integrated into their education systems.
He said the committee would strengthen project implementation and monitoring to ensure the investments translate into improved access to quality education for Nigerian children.
