FG to Scrap JSS–SSS Separation After 20 Million Students Dropped Out of School

• The Federal Government has announced plans to scrap the separation of JSS-SSS after revealing that more than 20 million students drop out before reaching senior secondary education.

The Federal Government has announced plans to phase out the policy separating Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) from Senior Secondary Schools (SSS), describing it as a failed system that has contributed to Nigeria’s growing out-of-school crisis.

Minister of Education Dr. Tunji Alausa made the announcement on Tuesday in Abuja during the inauguration of the UBEC Ministerial Implementation and Monitoring Committee, revealing that more than 20 million pupils drop out before reaching senior secondary school.

According to the minister, the “disarticulation policy”, which required JSS and SSS to operate separately with different principals and facilities, has not achieved its intended purpose.

“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,” Alausa said.

He explained that the imbalance has led to overcrowded junior secondary schools while many senior secondary schools remain underutilised, particularly in Kaduna and other northern states.

“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,” he added.

The minister disclosed that the proposal to abolish the policy will be presented at the next meeting of the National Council on Education.

As part of broader education reforms, Alausa also inaugurated a committee chaired by Prof. Rashid Aderinoye to oversee the completion and operation of UBEC-funded Smart Schools, Bilingual Schools and Alternative Schools across the country.

He lamented that many of the projects remain unfinished or have not admitted students despite huge government investments, describing the situation as a waste of public resources.

The Federal Government said the reforms are aimed at improving access to education, increasing transition rates from junior to senior secondary school, and tackling Nigeria’s persistent out-of-school children crisis.