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…adopts whole-school approach, commissions 74 digital learning centres
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) announced on Wednesday that it has renovated 287 schools and more than 4,000 classrooms across the country as part of efforts to improve learning conditions and establish minimum standards for basic education infrastructure.
The Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr. Aisha Garba, disclosed this while commissioning renovated facilities at the Nyanya-Hausawa Basic and Secondary School in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Federal Capital Territory, on Wednesday.
Garba said the intervention was part of the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda to ensure that children, regardless of their location, have access to safe and conducive learning environments.
She said UBEC had introduced a “whole-school approach” requiring interventions to address the overall needs of schools instead of focusing on isolated classroom blocks.
“Our mandate is that all children, regardless of where they are, should be in school. We should also make sure that schools are in conducive environment for learning,” she said.
Garba said the commission’s new minimum standards for school infrastructure required new projects to include classrooms, perimeter fencing, security measures, solar power, boreholes, adequate toilets, administrative blocks and playgrounds.
She added that schools would increasingly receive technology facilities, including computer and ICT laboratories and smartboards, to equip pupils with digital skills for 21st-century education and the global economy.
The Nyanya-Hausawa intervention, executed under UBEC’s 2025 Direct Intervention Project, covered the rehabilitation, furnishing and equipping of the LEA Nursery and Primary School and Government Junior Secondary School.
Garba said the project included the renovation of three blocks comprising about 30 classrooms and 48 toilets, as well as solar-powered boreholes connected to the toilets, strengthen that UBEC would further intervene to provide an administrative block.
The Director of Physical Planning, UBEC, Ibrahim Nura, explained that the school was seriously dilapidated before the intervention, with some facilities unsuitable for teaching and learning.
He said a condition assessment was conducted before the rehabilitation to determine the specific needs of the school, noting that the intervention had significantly improved the facilities.
The school’s Junior Secondary School Principal, Gideon Isah, commended UBEC for providing renovated classrooms, furniture and a solar-powered water system.
Isah recalled that some students previously sat on bare floors because of inadequate furniture, saying the renovation had improved the morale of teachers and students.
He appealed for an administrative block, noting that the primary, junior secondary and senior secondary sections currently operated without one.
The principal said the community, in collaboration with the Parent-Teacher Association, had employed three security personnel to protect the facilities from vandalism and assured UBEC that the school would maintain them.
Meanwhile, Garba commissioned 74 digital learning centres, including one at Model Girls’ Junior Secondary School, AMAC.
She said UBEC had established more than 2,000 such centres under the Tinubu administration, equipped with computers, smartboards, solar panels, printers, scanners and internet connectivity.
According to her, the centres provide online and offline learning content, while teachers are trained to use the facilities and digital resources effectively.
