FG Moves To End JSS, SSS Separation Policy Over Rising School Dropouts

The Federal Government has announced plans to phase out the policy separating Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) from Senior Secondary Schools (SSS), citing the growing number of pupils who fail to progress beyond the junior secondary level.

Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja during the inauguration of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Ministerial Implementation and Monitoring Committee.

According to the minister, the existing "disarticulation policy," which requires junior and senior secondary schools to operate separately with different principals and facilities, has failed to achieve its intended objectives.

Alausa revealed that government data showed a significant gap in the transition of pupils from primary school to junior secondary 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 imbalance has resulted in overcrowded junior secondary schools while many senior secondary school facilities remain underutilised, particularly in states such as Kaduna and other parts of northern Nigeria.

Declaring the policy unsuccessful, the minister said the government would move to abolish it in order to improve access to education and strengthen the country's school system.

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

He disclosed that the proposal to end the separation policy would be presented at the next meeting of the National Council on Education for consideration.

The minister added that ithe reform forms part of the Federal Government's efforts to tackle poor transition rates and improve learning outcomes across the country.

"This government will not fail. We are fixing it," he added.

At the event, Alausa also inaugurated a ministerial implementation and monitoring committee headed by Prof. Rashid Aderinoye to oversee UBEC-funded Smart Schools, Bilingual Schools and Alternative Schools across the country.

The committee has been tasked with ensuring that the projects are completed, handed over to state governments and opened for academic activities.

Although UBEC has invested in hundreds of such schools nationwide, the minister lamented that many remain abandoned, incomplete or have yet to admit students, describing the situation as a waste of public resources.

Nigeria continues to face one of the world's largest out-of-school children crises, with millions of school-age children, particularly those in rural and conflict-affected communities, still lacking access to formal education.