The Federal Government has announced plans to overhaul Nigeria’s education system by merging Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) and Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) in a bid to tackle the country’s growing school dropout crisis.
Newsonspot reports that the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, disclosed the proposal 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 education structure, which separates junior and senior secondary schools with different administrations and facilities, has not achieved its intended objectives and has contributed to the alarming number of pupils leaving school before completing secondary education.
Alausa revealed that more than 20 million children who enrolled in primary school failed to progress to senior secondary school, describing the trend as a major setback for the nation’s education sector.
He explained that Nigeria currently has about 80,000 public primary schools but only around 15,000 junior secondary schools, creating a significant imbalance that results in overcrowded classrooms and limited access to quality education.
“The disarticulation policy has failed. We will phase it out because it is about doing what is best for every Nigerian child,” the minister said.
He added that the proposal to merge JSS and SSS will be presented at the next meeting of the National Council on Education for further consideration.
As part of broader education reforms, Alausa also inaugurated a committee chaired by Rashid Aderinoye to monitor the completion and handover of UBEC-funded Smart Schools, Bilingual Schools and Alternative Schools across the country.
The minister expressed concern that many of the projects remain incomplete or are yet to admit students despite significant public investment, stressing the need to ensure government resources are properly utilized to improve access to quality education nationwide.
