UBEC begins 10-year basic education roadmap in October

From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) will commence implementation of a new 10-year Universal Basic Education Roadmap, 2026–2035, in October, with a “whole school approach” designed to end fragmented interventions in public schools.

UBEC Executive Secretary, Dr. Aisha Garba, disclosed this in Abuja on Monday at a two-day consultative workshop with chairmen of the 36 State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) and directors of the commission.

Garba said the new approach would replace the practice of executing isolated projects, such as classrooms or furniture, without addressing other critical needs required to make a school fully functional.

She also unveiled the Basic Education Action Plan Management System (BEAPMS), a digital platform designed to strengthen planning, transparency, monitoring and accountability in the implementation of basic education programmes nationwide.

The UBEC boss explained that under the new framework, states would be required to carry out comprehensive assessments of individual schools and identify all critical gaps before intervention plans could be approved.

“For any state to do renovation, you have to do a whole school approach. A whole school approach means, you take a school and you look at all the gaps,” she said.

Garba said the policy would prevent situations where government provides a few classrooms or furniture while leaving other essential facilities, such as toilets, fencing and learning equipment, unattended.

“You don’t just put in furniture or you drop two blocks of classrooms and you leave because you want to give out awards. No, you have to take in all the comprehensive needs of that particular school,” she said.

According to her, where a school requires fencing, toilets, furniture or computers, such needs would be incorporated into the intervention plan.

She added that construction of additional classrooms would also be matched with adequate toilet facilities based on projected enrolment.

Garba also announced a revision of the matching grant formula to allow states deploy UBEC funds according to their peculiar education needs.

She said the previous funding formula placed considerable emphasis on new infrastructure, making it difficult for some states to access funds where their major needs were rehabilitation and maintenance of existing facilities.

“The new formula allows each state to look at their own needs. If their needs on the ground is furniture, if their needs on the ground is renovating all schools to ensure that our schools now have fencing, have computers, have furniture, then they are allowed to do that,” she said.

The move builds on UBEC’s revised Basic Education Action Plan process, for which the commission has previously trained state officials on new planning templates and assessment tools.

On BEAPMS, Garba said the platform would open up implementation to greater public scrutiny by allowing parents and communities to monitor projects in their schools.

She said information on funds accessed by each state, as well as projects being implemented, would be published on UBEC’s website.

“This will also allow us to bring in the community to be part of the monitoring of the projects that we do on the ground.

“With that, community can hold us accountable to the money we have accessed from UBEC, and then also the projects we’re doing on the ground, as well as the quality of projects we’re doing,” she said.

Garba said the digital platform had been in development for more than a month, adding that SUBEB chairmen had been fully onboarded ahead of its implementation in October.

Dean of SUBEB Chairmen and Kwara State SUBEB Chairman, Prof. Shehu Adaramaja, said the consultation would enable stakeholders to establish a common direction for basic education development over the next decade.

He said the meeting would focus on strategies for expanding access, improving quality and strengthening management of basic education in line with the new system.

Adaramaja said the workshop was designed as a hands-on exercise, with directors of research and statistics expected to contribute to the framework that would guide individual states in preparing their basic education action plans.

He added that UBEC’s intervention mandate had evolved beyond physical infrastructure, with other components now being incorporated to strengthen basic education delivery.

Earlier, UBEC Director of Physical Planning, Nura Ibrahim, said the workshop would provide an opportunity for stakeholders to review and validate the proposed roadmap, drawing on their technical expertise and experience in implementing basic education programmes across the country.