The Nigerian government is considering an overhaul of the education system by incorporating secondary school into basic education, thereby creating a seamless 12-year learning structure.
During the 2025 Extraordinary National Council on Education (NCE) meeting held in Abuja on Thursday, Minister of Education Tunji Alausa highlighted the plan’s objective—to provide students with an uninterrupted education journey up to the age of 16.
At present, Nigeria follows a 9-3-4 education model: nine years of basic education (six years in primary school and three years in junior secondary school), followed by three years in senior secondary school before progressing to higher education.
Minister Alausa’s proposal seeks to merge the existing nine-year basic education with the three-year senior secondary phase, transitioning from the 9-3-4 system to a 12-4 model.
Mr. Alausa stated that aligning with global best practices would enhance continuity in learning, ensuring standardization and quality assurance across the education sector.
“A 12-year basic education framework will facilitate an uninterrupted curriculum, fostering better educational outcomes and equipping students with a more comprehensive learning experience. This, in turn, will contribute to an educated workforce, strengthening Nigeria’s economic progress,” he explained.
Additionally, he noted that the reform aims to increase school retention and completion rates while tackling dropout issues by removing financial and systemic challenges that hinder students from finishing secondary school.
The proposal will be deliberated upon at the NCE meeting, which serves as the highest decision-making platform in the education sector. The meeting includes education commissioners from all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as well as key stakeholders such as heads of agencies and international education organizations.
As part of the reforms, Mr. Alausa has also recommended setting the minimum age for university admission at 16 years.
Previously, former Minister of Education Tahir Mamman directed the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and tertiary institutions to enforce an 18-year age requirement. He based his decision on existing policies that require students to begin primary school at six and complete six years of secondary education before university entry.
However, his directive faced resistance during the JAMB policy meeting with heads of tertiary institutions. To accommodate students who had already taken the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) without prior knowledge of the age restriction, the meeting agreed to set the age limit at 16 for the 2024 admissions cycle.
Following his appointment, Minister Alausa officially reversed the policy, reinstating 16 as the minimum admission age for tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
