Junior Secondary School enrolment rate in Nigeria

The Junior Secondary School (JSS) is the second part of the nine year compulsory and free basic education every Nigerian child must have, according to the Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act (2004). Typically, children between age 12 and 14 years are found in this level of education which is structured into JSS1, JSS2 and JSS3.

Contents of the JSS are structured to cater for both academic and pre-vocational knowledge. Students are said to have successfully completed the three years based on continuous assessment and the prescribed Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) conducted by the National Examinations Council or their respective state governments, where applicable.

They eventually proceed to either the Senior Secondary Schools or enrol for vocational training through the technical colleges in the country. The graduates from the JSS are streamlined towards various career paths based on their aptitude and interest.

The National Policy on Education states the core subjects of the Junior Secondary School level to include English Studies, Basic Mathematics, Social Studies, Integrated Science, Agricultural Science and Religious Studies. This doesn’t leave out vocational and technical subjects. An average of 11 subjects are taken altogether by each student in the BECE.

This data is important because education plays an important in the advancement of women as stated in the Beijing Platform for Action and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

The Platform for Action, which was instituted in 1995 called for the elimination of gender-based discrimination in education at all levels, eradication of illiteracy among women and improving access to vocational training, science and technology education, and continuing education.

EduCeleb.com also notes that education is contained in Goal 4 of the SDGs while gender equality applies to goal 5. The SDGs were instituted in 2015 to consolidate on the gains of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Some other Global Goals, as the SDGs are also known would be achieved with adequate level of literacy across both gender.

Junior Secondary School enrolment rate in Nigeria (State by State)

The Nigeria Digest of Education Statistics puts the average enrolment rate in Nigerian Junior Secondary Schools at 46.7% for females and 55.3% for males. We earlier shared summarised data on a state by state basis about primary school enrolment in Nigeria by gender also from the Digest published by the Federal Ministry of Education. Click here to read about that.

The infographics above shows where each of the states in Nigeria stand regarding female and male enrolments at the JSS level. It also includes a map categorising states by their strength of meeting up with the national average female enrolment rate. Only Plateau, Kwara, Kogi aside the Federal Capital Territory have female enrolments above the national average among states in Northern Nigeria while all states in the south are above that. Not left out are the transition and completion rates, which would be discussed later.

Among females, Abia State has the highest Junior Secondary School Enrolment recorded in Nigeria with a 55.6% enrolment compared to Kebbi, which has the lowest female enrolment at 33%. The enrolment percentage in Abia is immediately followed by 54.4% in Enugu, 52.5% in Ebonyi, 51.8% in Rivers and 51.3% in Anambra. Others in the top ten female enrolment rate in Nigeria are Akwa Ibom (51.1%), Lagos (50.8%), Ondo (50.6%) and Ekiti (50.5%) and the Federal Capital Territory (50.5%).

Aside Kebbi, the least ten states in female enrolment are Gombe (44.5%), Yobe (42.9%), Niger (42.8%), Bauchi (42.3%), and Taraba (42.2%). Others are Katsina (41.9%), Jigawa (41%), Sokoto (35.6%), and Zamfara (33.9%).

This means that male enrolment is between 66.7% and 55.% of the top ten of such enrolments in Nigeria for the gender. On the other hand, the least male enrolments are between 49.5% and 44%.

Regional figures of Junior Secondary School enrolment data

Evidently from the above, male enrolment percentage is on the high side among largely states in Northern Nigeria. On the other hand, female enrolment is largely higher is southern states in Nigeria.

But beyond that, most of the enrolments were recorded in the northern regions with a sum of Three Million, Thirty-Eight Thousand, Four Hundred and Five (3,038,405) compared to Two Milliond and Eighty-Two (2,800,582) in the southern regions.

This is further exposited based on the figures across the six geopolitical zones of the country as at the 2015/2016 session as provided by Nigeria’s education ministry. Percentages still put male enrolment rate above that of females in all six geopolitical zones except the South East and the South South regions.

The highest enrolments were recorded in the North West with One Million, Four Hundred and Seventy-Six Thousand, Five Hundred and Sixty-Five (1,476,565) followed by the South West region with One Million, Three Hundred and Fourty-One Thousand, Two Hundred and Eighty-Three (1,341,283).

In the third position in the number of all enrolments is the North Central with Eight Hundred and Fifty-Eight Thousand, Eight Hundred Sixty-Six (858,866). The South East has Seven Hundred and Sixty-Five Thousand, Six Hundred and Sixty Eight (765, 668) while the North East recorded a sum of Seven Hundred and Two Thousand, Nine Hundred and Seventy-Four (702,974) enrolments.

Least of the number of enrolments were recorded in the South South with a sum of Six Hundred Ninety-Three Thousand, Six Hundred and Thirty-One (693,631). The ranking by population and across the states by gender is illustrated in the infographic above.

Transition to JSS1 and Completion Rate

Recall that in the data we earlier published on Primary School Enrolment Rate, the completion rate was put at 64.8% for girls and 70.8% for boys.

The Nigeria Education Indicator (NEI) puts the Transition Rate into JSS1 at 57.7% for girls and 24.9% for boys. It shows that more of the girls who complete primary school proceed to JSS1 than boys.

However, the NEI states that 38.9% of the girls complete Junior Secondary School compared to 43.3% who complete it among boys. You can click here to read other education statistics published on the EduCeleb website.

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