The Federal Government has announced plans to phase out the Junior Secondary School Common Entrance Examination and introduce a nationwide Learner Identification Number system to track pupils throughout their academic journey.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, disclosed the proposal during an interactive session with journalists in Lagos.
He explained that the reforms are aimed at improving access to education and strengthening the monitoring of pupils across the country.
Under the proposed framework, the current common entrance examination will be replaced with a Continuous Assessment (CA) system. This approach will evaluate pupils based on their academic performance from Primary One and allow seamless transfer of records when students move between schools.
Alausa noted that the reform seeks to address long-standing challenges in the transition from primary to secondary education, particularly the high number of pupils who fail to progress. According to him, Nigeria has more than 50,000 public primary schools with over 23 million pupils, yet only slightly above 3 million transition to junior secondary school within the public system.
He described the gap as a clear sign of limited access to education, emphasizing that private schools cannot absorb the shortfall.
“The issue is simply lack of access,” the minister stated, adding that the Federal Government is working with state governments to expand infrastructure and build more schools to accommodate the growing number of pupils.
As part of the reforms, the government will introduce a unique Learner Identification Number for every child starting from primary school. The number will remain with each pupil throughout their education, regardless of school transfers.
According to the minister, the system will help authorities monitor students’ progress and identify those who drop out, enabling timely intervention. “If a child is expected to be in JSS1 and is not there, we will be able to determine the reason,” he said.
In addition, the government is considering reviving the school feeding programme to boost enrolment and retention in public schools. The programme may be placed under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Education to improve its effectiveness and monitoring.
These measures are part of broader efforts by the Federal Government to strengthen the education sector, improve retention rates, and ensure that more Nigerian children complete their basic education.
