By Ajibola Olaide, JKNewsMedia Reporter
PLANS TO phase out the common entrance examination for pupils transitioning from primary to junior secondary school have been announced by the Federal Government, with a shift towards a continuous assessment system.
JKNewsMedia.com reports that the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, disclosed this during a meeting with journalists in Lagos, stating that the new method will track pupils’ performance from primary one rather than rely on a single examination.
He said each pupil’s assessment record will follow them, even if they change schools, to ensure proper monitoring of academic progress.
The government also plans to introduce a Learner Identification Number for pupils from primary school. He said the number will be unique to each child and will remain with them throughout their education, regardless of transfers between schools.
He stated that the system is expected to help authorities monitor pupils and identify those who fail to move to the next level of education.
The minister noted that Nigeria has more than 50,000 public primary schools with over 23 million pupils, but only slightly above 3 million transition to junior secondary schools in the public system.
He said the gap shows that many children are not continuing their education and are not all being absorbed by private schools.
He explained that limited access to schools is a major reason for the situation and said efforts are ongoing with state governments to build more schools to accommodate increasing numbers of pupils and students.
He added that the government is working to revive the school feeding programme as part of measures to attract more children to public schools.
He also revealed plans to move the programme from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to the Federal Ministry of Education to improve supervision and ensure better coordination.
