The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) is set to overhaul the way basic education interventions are planned and funded, with states expected to address the comprehensive needs of individual schools rather than execute isolated projects.

The reform will take effect with the implementation of the Commission’s 10-year Universal Basic Education Roadmap, 2026–2035, scheduled to commence in the first week of October.

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

Garba said the new approach would end the practice of focusing on individual projects, such as constructing classrooms or supplying furniture, without addressing other critical requirements within the same school.

She described the new policy as a “whole school approach”, under which states would assess the complete needs of a school before submitting intervention plans for approval.

“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.

Under the new framework, schools requiring fencing, toilets, furniture, computers, additional classrooms or other facilities would have such needs incorporated into a comprehensive intervention plan.

Garba explained that additional classrooms, for instance, would have to be matched with adequate toilet facilities based on projected enrolment, rather than being implemented as standalone projects.

“You don’t just put in a 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.

The Commission is also revising its matching grant formula to give states greater flexibility to direct UBEC funds towards their most pressing education needs.

Garba said the previous arrangement had placed significant emphasis on new infrastructure, even when some states had moved beyond the need for new school construction and required maintenance, renovation and other improvements.

“The new formula allows each state to look at their own needs,” she said, adding that states could prioritise areas such as furniture, school renovation, fencing and computers.

She said the revised framework could also accommodate enrolment materials and additional teachers where increased pupil enrolment constituted a priority.

At the workshop, the UBEC boss also unveiled the Basic Education Action Plan Management System (BEAPMS), a digital platform designed to strengthen planning, transparency and monitoring of basic education interventions.

According to Garba, the platform will enable communities, parents and other stakeholders to monitor projects being implemented in schools.

“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,” she said.

She added that information on funds accessed by individual states would be published on UBEC’s website, alongside details of projects being implemented.

“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,” Garba said.

The Commission said the digital system had been in development for more than a month, with SUBEB chairmen already onboarded ahead of the October rollout.

The Dean of SUBEB Chairmen, Prof. Shehu Adaramaja, said the consultation would help states establish a common direction for basic education development over the next decade.

Adaramaja, who is also the SUBEB Chairman of Kwara State, said participants would examine strategies for expanding access, improving quality and strengthening basic education management systems.

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

He also noted that UBEC’s intervention mandate had expanded beyond physical infrastructure to include other components necessary for effective basic education delivery.

Earlier, UBEC Director of Physical Planning, Arc. Nura Ibrahim, said the consultation would enable stakeholders to review and validate the proposed 10-year roadmap while drawing on their technical expertise and practical experience in implementing basic education programmes across the country.