Disaster in Nigeria: 20 million students drop out of school; government considers abolishing the separation between middle and high school.

Ayman Ragab

The Nigerian federal government has announced its intention to gradually abolish the policy of separating lower secondary and upper secondary education, following data revealing that more than 20 million students have dropped out of the education system before reaching upper secondary level.

Abolition of the separation between middle and high school in Nigeria

The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alaosa, announced the decision on Tuesday in the capital, Abuja, during the opening of the work of the Ministerial Committee for Implementation and Follow-up of the Comprehensive Basic Education Authority, stressing that the “separation” policy, which required junior and senior secondary schools to operate independently, with separate administrations and facilities, had not achieved its intended goals.

Alaosa said that the available data indicates that there are about 20 million dropouts from education between the primary and intermediate stages, wondering about the fate of these students. He also pointed out that there are about 80,000 government primary schools compared to only about 15,000 intermediate schools, at a ratio of about 1 to 8, which he described as a clear structural imbalance.

The minister added that this imbalance has led to overcrowding in middle school facilities, in contrast to the poor utilization of many upper secondary schools, citing states such as Kaduna and a number of northern states.

Improving the education system

Alaosa stressed that “the policy of separation has failed,” noting that it will be gradually abolished, explaining that the goal is to improve the educational system in a way that serves the interests of students instead of creating ineffective administrative positions.

He indicated that the proposal to abolish the policy will be presented at the next meeting of the National Education Council for approval.

In the same context, the minister said that the federal government is working to address the school dropout crisis by expanding the establishment of “smart schools”, bilingual schools and alternative schools, with funding from the UBEC fund, explaining that many of these projects have not yet been completed or have not been put into operation to receive students, which represents a waste of public resources.

One of the highest rates of out-of-school children globally

He added that a new committee, headed by Professor Rashid Aderinoy, will oversee the implementation of these projects and ensure their delivery to the states and their full operation.

Nigeria has one of the highest rates of out-of-school children in the world, with millions of children, especially in rural and conflict areas, remaining outside the education system, amid challenges related to infrastructure, teacher shortages, and poor school enrollment.