UBEC to roll out 10-year basic education overhaul from October
A ten-year restructuring of Nigeria's basic education sector will commence in October, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has said, with the adoption of a "whole school approach" aimed at meeting the complete needs of individual schools.
Known as the Universal Basic Education Roadmap 2026–2035, the plan will oblige State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) to carry out comprehensive assessments of deficiencies in each school before they can receive money for interventions.
UBEC Executive Secretary Dr Aisha Garba made the reform public in Abuja at a two-day consultative workshop attended by chairmen of the 36 SUBEBs and directors of the commission.
Garba said states must take a holistic view when carrying out renovations. "For any state to do renovation, you have to do a whole school approach. A whole school approach means you take a school and you look at all the gaps," she said.
She stressed that piecemeal interventions would not be accepted: "You don't just put in furniture or you drop two blocks of classrooms and you leave because you want to give out awards. No, you have to take in all the comprehensive needs of that particular school."
The assessments, she explained, would cover facilities including classrooms, fencing, toilets, furniture and digital infrastructure. Where enrolment rises, she added, provision must be made for the corresponding supporting facilities.
Garba also presented the Basic Education Action Plan Management System (BEAPMS), a digital tool designed to strengthen planning, monitoring, transparency and accountability.
According to her, the platform will draw communities into oversight of projects. "This will also allow us to bring in the community to be part of the monitoring of the projects that we do on the ground," she said.
She added: "With that, the community can hold us accountable to the money we have accessed from UBEC, and then also the projects we're doing on the ground, as well as the quality of projects we're doing."
On funding, Garba said the revised matching grant formula would enable states to direct resources to their own priorities, such as rehabilitation, furniture, computers, enrolment materials and additional teachers.
Prof. Shehu Adaramaja, Dean of SUBEB Chairmen, said the consultation was intended to set a shared direction for basic education over the coming decade.
"In the next two days, we'll pay attention to all the strategies and the initiatives toward the development of a roadmap for the next 10 years on how to provide access, provide quality service, and of course, strengthen our systems in line with our new basic education management system," he said.
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