The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) will commence implementation of its 10-year Universal Basic Education roadmap, 2026 to 2035, in the first week of October.
The Executive Secretary of UBEC, 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, where she also unveiled the Basic Education Action Plan Management System ( BEAPMS).
Garba said the new roadmap marks a shift from the practice of executing isolated infrastructure projects to a whole school approach that addresses the comprehensive needs of each school.
Under the new arrangement, she said, states seeking to renovate schools must identify and address all critical gaps in the selected schools before their action plans can be approved.
She explained that interventions will no longer be limited to constructing a few classrooms or supplying furniture for the purpose of giving out awards, but will include other essential facilities such as fencing and toilets, with additional classrooms matched with corresponding toilet facilities based on projected enrolment.
The Executive Secretary also announced a revision of the matching grant formula to give states flexibility to deploy UBEC funding according to their specific priorities.
She said the old formula focused largely on new infrastructure, which left some states unable to access funds because their pressing needs were maintenance and improvement of existing facilities rather than new construction.
With the revised formula, states whose needs are furniture, renovation, fencing, computers or even enrolment materials and teachers can channel funds accordingly.
Garba said the BEAPMS digital platform introduced by the Commission is designed to improve planning, transparency and monitoring of basic education projects nationwide.
She said the platform, which has been under development for over a month and on which SUBEB chairmen have now been fully onboarded, will be made public to enable parents and community members to track projects, the amount of money accessed by each state and the quality of interventions delivered.
She said UBEC will publish funding details on its website so that communities can hold the Commission and SUBEBs accountable.
Speaking at the event, the Dean of SUBEB Chairmen and Chairman of Kwara SUBEB, Prof. Shehu Adaramaja, said the consultation was critical to establishing a common direction for basic education delivery in the next decade, focusing on access, quality and system strengthening in line with the new management system.
“In the next two days, we’ll pay attention to all the strategies and the initiatives toward the development of a roadmap for the next 10 years on how to provide access, provide quality service, and of course, strengthen our systems in line with our new basic education management system,” he said.
He said the workshop was designed as a hands-on exercise with directors of research and statistics participating actively in developing the framework that will guide state action plans.
Earlier, UBEC Director of Physical Planning, Arc. Nura Ibrahim, said the meeting would allow stakeholders to review and validate the proposed roadmap with their technical expertise and experience from implementing basic education programmes across the states.
