By Philip Yatai

The Kaduna Basic Education Accountability Mechanism (KADBEAM) says the transfer of Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) from Ministry of Education to State Basic Education Board (KADSUBEB) will improve transition rate from primary to JSS.

The Citizen’s Co-chair, KADBEAM, Mr Aliyu Tijjani, said  this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Thursday, while reacting to the recent transfer of 170 JSS to KADSUBEB.

KADBEAM is a permanent dialogue platform for government and citizens to co-create and co-implement basic education programmes and projects to ensure transparency and accountability in line with the principle of Open Government Partnership.

NAN reports that the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Dr Haliru Soba had in a letter to the Executive Chairman, KADSUBEB, Mr Tijjani Abdullahi, announced the handing over of 170 Junior Secondary Schools to the board.

According to Soba, the handing over is in line with the directive of Gov. Nasir El-Rufai and the subsequent renaming of primary and junior secondary schools in the state to Basic Education Schools.

Tijjani, who commended the decision, pointed out that one of the major problems affecting basic education in the state was the low transition from primary schools to JSS, particularly for the girl-child.

He said that over the years, the JSS had been part of senior secondary schools and usually located far away from primary schools.

“This barrier discourages a lot of children from transiting from primary school to JSS because of the distance to the nearest JSS in the area.

“But with this development, junior secondary schools will be located in the same environment with the JSS so that the primary school pupils will transit seamlessly to JSS.

“This will significantly improve transition rate from primary to junior secondary schools across the state,” he said.

He said that the step would go a long way in ensuring full implementation of the Universal Basic Education Act, 2004, which placed junior secondary schools under the purview of SUBEB.

He said that the state government was already providing free education from primary to senior secondary school, adding that the bringing, primary and JSS under same environment would improve school retention and transition.

NAN report that the 170 transferred schools were JSS that have since been separated from senior secondary school, while the remaining JSS that were still attached to senior secondary schools were being

The KADSUBEB had said during a meeting with Connected Development that efforts were ongoing to provide adequate facilities in primary schools to accommodate the JSS.

“Where there are standalone JSS, we will bring the primary schools to such schools,” he said.