We didn’t scrap JSS, SSS –Minister

The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has clarified reports by some media outlets (not Daily Trust) that the federal government has scrapped the Junior Secondary School (JSS) and Senior Secondary School (SSS) and replaced them with a new 12-year uninterrupted basic education model.

Alausa, who stated this while addressing the media on Friday, said he merely presented a proposal for discussion at the National Council on Education (NCE) on Thursday to put the idea out for them to discuss.

He said it was not an immediate policy change as suggested by some sections of the media.

 He said, “At the Extraordinary National Council on Education (NCE) Meeting held on February 6, 2025, in Abuja, I presented a proposal for discussion—not an immediate policy change. The proposal seeks to migrate to 12 years of compulsory education while retaining the current 6-3-3 structure.

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“A key aspect of this proposal is to eliminate the examination barrier between JSS and SSS, allowing for a seamless transition of students without the hurdles of an external assessment at that stage. However, this is still a subject of consultation and deliberation.

“What we’re saying is that we need to move from what we have now as nine years compulsory education to 12 years of compulsory education as it’s obtained in other parts of the world.

“If you look back into the history of Nigeria 40 years ago, people that went through the primary education then and got up to standard six, if you compare the level of education, the level of instruction, even at Standard 3 then, it’s much better than what we get in JSS 3 now. And today, our quality of instruction and education is falling, and if we let these kids continue to graduate with nine years of compulsory education, we’re literally just training illiterates. We’re not preparing them for the future.

“So, keeping the nine years of compulsory education would not be sufficient for our children, and that’s why we’re thinking, we’re proposing that we move to 12 years of compulsory education. And I want to reassure you, this will still stay within the ambit of our primary school, JSS and SSS.”

The minister said to ensure a well-informed decision, the ministry would undertake extensive stakeholder engagements over the next eight months, consulting widely with education policymakers, state governments, teachers, parents, and other key players and the final decision on whether to adopt the reform would be made at the October 2025 National Council on Education Meeting.

He urged the public to disregard the false claim that JSS and SSS have been scrapped.