The Federal Government has unveiled plans to scrap the policy separating Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) from Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) in a bid to address the growing number of out-of-school children and improve access to education across the country.

Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced the proposed reform 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 “disarticulation policy,” which mandates separate administration, management structures and facilities for junior and senior secondary schools, has failed to deliver its intended goals and has instead created barriers to educational progression.

Alausa disclosed that the Federal Government would present a proposal to abolish the policy at the next meeting of the National Council on Education (NCE), Nigeria’s highest education policymaking body.

Expressing concern over the country's education challenges, the minister revealed that more than 20 million children drop out of school between primary education and junior secondary school.

“We have 20 million dropouts from primary school to JSS. Where are those students?” he asked.

He also highlighted a major imbalance in educational infrastructure, noting that Nigeria has about 80,000 public primary schools but only 15,000 junior secondary schools, creating a one-to-eight ratio.

The minister said the shortage of junior secondary schools has created significant bottlenecks, resulting in overcrowded classrooms at the JSS level while many senior secondary school facilities remain underutilised.

Alausa cited Kaduna and several northern states as examples where the policy has negatively affected the transition of pupils from basic to secondary education.

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

The minister explained that the proposed policy change forms part of the administration’s broader strategy to expand access to education, improve student retention and strengthen learning outcomes nationwide.

While acknowledging past failures in addressing the out-of-school children crisis, Alausa expressed confidence that the current administration would make significant progress in reversing the trend.

“This government will not fail. We are fixing it,” he stated.

During the event, Alausa also inaugurated the UBEC Ministerial Implementation and Monitoring Committee, headed by Prof. Rashid Aderinoye, to oversee the implementation of UBEC-funded Smart Schools, Bilingual Schools and Alternative Schools across the country.

He said the committee would ensure that educational projects are completed, handed over to state governments and fully operational for teaching and learning.

The minister, however, lamented that despite substantial investments in Smart Schools and other educational projects, many facilities remain abandoned, incomplete or yet to admit students.

He described the situation as a waste of public resources and stressed that building schools alone is not enough, insisting that completed projects must be functional and accessible to learners to achieve meaningful educational outcomes.