The Federal Government has announced plans to scrap the Junior Secondary School Common Entrance Examination and replace it with a continuous assessment system, alongside introducing a Learner Identification Number to track pupils throughout their education.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, disclosed this during an interactive session with journalists in Lagos, explaining that the reform is designed to create a more reliable and inclusive method of evaluating pupils as they move through the basic education system.
He stated that the existing common entrance examination would be phased out and substituted with Continuous Assessment (CA), which will reflect a pupil’s academic performance from the early years of primary school. According to him, the new system will ensure that a child’s progress is measured over time rather than based on a single examination.
“It will be replaced by Continuous Assessment, CA. The CA will reflect the performance of the pupil from primary one and even if a pupil is transferring from one school to another, he will take it along to his new school,” the minister said.
Alausa explained that the shift is intended to address long-standing gaps in the transition from primary to junior secondary education, particularly the large number of pupils who fail to proceed to the next level. He noted that relying on a one-time examination has not effectively captured the abilities of many learners, especially those in underserved areas.
To further strengthen the reform, the government will introduce a Learner Identification Number for every pupil starting from the primary school level. The unique number will follow each child throughout their academic journey, regardless of school transfers or location changes.
“To also follow up on our pupils and students, we are introducing the Learner Identification Number right from primary school level for our children. It will be unique to each child and they will have the number no matter where they started schooling or later transferred to,” he explained.
The minister said the identification system will make it easier for education authorities to monitor pupils’ progress and quickly detect cases where children drop out of school. This, he noted, will provide clearer data for policy decisions and targeted interventions.
“If somebody is expected to be in JSS class one and he is not there, we will be able to know the reason why he is not continuing his education,” Alausa added.
He backed the reform with data, revealing a significant gap between primary school enrolment and progression to junior secondary school. According to him, while over 23 million pupils are enrolled in more than 50,000 public primary schools across the country, only slightly above 3 million transition into junior secondary schools within the public system.
“We have over 50,000 public primary schools in the country with over 23 million pupils. However, from statistics available to us, only a little over 3 million among those pupils move to the junior secondary school level in our public schools,” he said.
Alausa stressed that this disparity highlights a major access problem, noting that the number of pupils missing from the transition cannot be fully accounted for by private school enrolment. He emphasised the need for state governments to expand infrastructure by building more schools to accommodate growing numbers.
“It is obvious that we cannot say our private schools accommodate all of them. The issue is simply lack of access and we are working on that,” he said.
