States get ultimatum to implement minimum standards in secondary schools

The National Senior Secondary Education Commission on Monday said it has given state governments a one-year ultimatum to implement the newly set minimum benchmarks for senior secondary schools.

The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. Iyela Ajayi stated this during an interaction with journalists in Abuja.

The Executive Secretary, who commended the massive support being extended to NSSEC by the Minister of Education, Maruf Alausa, and the Minister of State for Education, Suwaiba Ahmad, said the Commission has focused on building frameworks that would overhaul the quality, structure, and accountability of senior secondary education nationwide.

One of its major milestones, he noted, is the rollout of the National Minimum Standards for Secondary Education launched in February. “The National Minimum Standards has to do with benchmarking requirements for all aspects of secondary education. How many teachers do you have? What should be their qualification? What should be the teacher-student ratio? The infrastructures that you have on-ground, and so on and so forth.”

The type of buildings you have, the quality of the buildings, all these are clearly spread out in the Minimum Standards,” he added. “We have developed the Minimum Standards, and it was launched in February this year, and we have distributed the Minimum Standards to all the states of the Federation. We have given them 12 months within which to comply because the law establishing this commission has not only given us the power to produce Minimum Standards, but to enforce it.”

According to him, state governments have a one-year compliance window, after which NSSEC will begin nationwide enforcement inspections. “There must be standards and uniformity. We cannot continue with a situation where students learn under trees or in classrooms without roofs. Those days must end,” he added.

Ajayi explained that the Commission is also intensifying efforts to raise teacher quality through continuous professional development, including training programs for English and Mathematics teachers and capacity building on AI-driven teaching methods for educators and school administrators.

On curriculum changes, he emphasized NSSEC’s role in recent national adjustments involving the reintroduction of History, reduction of curriculum overload, and expansion of skill-based learning.

Despite financial constraints, the NSSEC boss said the Commission has facilitated the upgrade of 50 senior secondary schools, at least one in each state, through constituency projects. “These include new classrooms, laboratories, and ICT facilities. We are not yet like UBEC, but the little we have done is already changing the narrative,” he said.

Ajayi revealed that NSSEC is also engaging telecom firms for subsidized broadband access in schools and working with development partners to secure 30,000 tablets for teachers nationwide. Plans are underway, he added, to make computer literacy compulsory for all students and expand offerings in robotics, artificial intelligence, and data science.

However, he emphasized that these ambitions remain limited by lack of direct funding. “Our major challenge is funding, funding, funding. The law provides 2 per cent of CRF for NSSEC interventions, but as I speak to you, not a kobo has been released,” he said.

The National Senior Secondary Education Commission is expected to oversee and regulate senior secondary education in Nigeria, focusing on policy development, quality assurance, and standards implementation.

The commission aims to improve learning outcomes and ensure that students are well-prepared for tertiary education and the workforce. By setting standards and providing support to schools, the commission plays a critical role in shaping the future of Nigeria’s youth and promoting national development.

culled from punch