The Federal Government has unveiled a major reform agenda for the basic education sector, introducing cash incentives for mothers as part of measures aimed at boosting school enrolment and curbing the rising number of out-of-school children in Nigeria.
Flagging off the Basic Education Transformation Agenda (BETA) in Abuja at the weekend, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, said the programme would address longstanding gaps in access, infrastructure, curriculum, and teacher development.
“One of the key pillars of BETA is the introduction of conditional cash transfers to mothers, tied directly to their children’s school attendance,” Alausa said. “This is to ensure that economic barriers no longer keep children away from the classroom.”
He explained that the initiative also incorporates a nationwide Back2School campaign in partnership with the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education, under which government will fully fund the cost of enrolment for vulnerable learners.
According to him, the reform targets chronic challenges in the basic education system, including poor learning outcomes, weak technical capacity, and inadequate infrastructure. He announced that five million young people would be trained over the next four years as part of a renewed investment in technical and vocational education.
“President Bola Tinubu has approved N120bn for the revamp of Technical and Vocational Education and Training. From the 2025/2026 session, students in federal and state technical colleges will enjoy free tuition, feeding, uniforms and even a monthly stipend of N22,500,” he said.
Alausa further disclosed that N80bn has been earmarked for the rehabilitation of unity schools and that 38 federal and state technical colleges are undergoing full modernisation.
On curriculum reform, he said civic education, digital literacy, critical thinking, and entrepreneurship had been mainstreamed into basic and post-basic education to “prepare Nigerian children to compete globally.”
To strengthen manpower in critical sectors, Alausa announced the launch of a STEMM Nigeria Agenda — covering Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medical Sciences — and a STEMM Up Grant of up to N50m to support undergraduate-led innovations.
He also revealed an upward review of scholarship grants to N750,000 for PhD students, N600,000 for Master’s, and N450,000 for undergraduates — representing a 50 per cent increment.
Giving an update on the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, the minister said N77bn had so far been disbursed to 396,000 students across 210 tertiary institutions, while N50bn had been released for the settlement of earned academic allowances to lecturers.
“We are cleaning up the system, restoring standards, and ensuring that no child is left behind,” Alausa said, adding that the era of “piecemeal responses” to education challenges was over.
The minister also highlighted in-built social protection components such as a national anti-bullying policy, school feeding expansion, health insurance for Almajiri children, and girl-focused initiatives like the Learning Under the Mango programme and the AGILE project.
