To enhance equal education opportunity in all Senior Secondary Schools in the country, the Federal Government has come up with a minimum standard to be met by existing and intending senior secondary schools.
Executive Secretary, National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC), Dr. Iyela Ajayi, disclosed this in Bauchi, yesterday, during the opening ceremony of a three-day critique workshop on zero draft of the minimum standards document for senior secondary education in Nigeria.
According to him, the commission, established in 2021, was given a responsibility, among which was to ensure quality education in senior secondary schools.
He said: “We do not want to see a situation whereby states are running their senior secondary schools anyhow. We want uniformity in terms of minimum standards, in terms of personnel, facilities and everything that will make for improvement of the senior secondary school aspect and level of education in this country.
“That is why we found it necessary to organise this critique of the minimum standard, for which we have a draft already, and we want Nigerians to own the approved minimum standard and not leave it to the commission alone.”
Also speaking, Director, Quality Assurance, NSSEC, Abdulkareem Ibrahim, said the aim of the document was to have a benchmark, which could be used to regulate and reposition senior secondary schools.
“This document would be used to judge the type of school you want to establish. It will allow us to deduce if the school is up to the standard or a quack school.
“We are also seeking that we be allowed to approve new secondary schools that will meet our standards. That is why we are here in Bauchi, and that is why we invited the Directors of Planning, Statistics and Research from across the 19 Northern states to take a critical look at this document,” Ibrahim said.
In her address, immediate past Chairman of NSSEC, Dr. Nimota Akanbi, explained that there were many senior secondary schools without infrastructure, laboratories, exam halls, toilets and so on.
She called on the stakeholders at the workshop to also contribute by letting out their own views on how the commission could make it possible for senior secondary schools to have the minimum standard.
