FG to Merge Junior and Senior Secondary School Structure in New Education Reform

The Federal Government has announced plans to abolish the policy separating Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) from Senior Secondary Schools (SSS), describing the arrangement as a failed experiment that contributed to more than 20 million pupils dropping out before reaching senior secondary education.

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.

Alausa said the “disarticulation policy,” which requires junior and senior secondary schools to operate as separate institutions with different principals and facilities, has failed to achieve its objectives and instead created barriers to educational access.

According to the minister, the country currently has about 80,000 public primary schools but only about 15,000 junior secondary schools, creating a significant imbalance that has left many pupils without access to the next level of education.

“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,” he said.

He explained that the shortage of junior secondary schools has led to overcrowded classrooms, while many senior secondary schools remain underutilised in states such as Kaduna and across parts of northern Nigeria.

Declaring that the current structure had failed, Alausa said the government would phase out the policy in the interest of Nigerian children.

“This disarticulation policy has failed. We will phase it out. We can’t be creating positions because we want to create a director-level position for people while we harm our education system. It’s about doing what is best for every Nigerian child,” he stated.

The minister disclosed that the proposal would be presented at the next meeting of the National Council on Education for deliberation and approval.

He said the reform forms part of the Federal Government’s broader strategy to boost school enrolment, improve the transition from primary to secondary education and reduce the country’s large population of out-of-school children.

Expressing confidence in the administration’s education agenda, Alausa said, “This government will not fail. We are fixing it.”

During the event, the minister also inaugurated the UBEC Ministerial Implementation and Monitoring Committee, chaired by Professor Rashid Aderinoye, to oversee the completion and operationalisation of UBEC-funded Smart Schools, Bilingual Schools and Alternative Schools nationwide.

The committee is expected to ensure the projects are completed, handed over to state governments and opened for academic activities.

Alausa lamented that many of the projects remain abandoned or have yet to admit learners despite significant public investment, describing the situation as a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Nigeria continues to face one of the world’s largest out-of-school children crises, with millions of school-age children, particularly in rural, insurgency-affected and economically disadvantaged communities, still outside the formal education system.