UBEC Renovates 4,000 Classrooms, Sets New Standard For Schools

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has renovated over  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 on Wednesday during an inspection tour of schools in and around Abuja.

She said the reforms were designed to move away from the construction of isolated classroom blocks to the development of complete school facilities equipped with essential infrastructure.

She said, “Our mandate is that all children, regardless of where they are, should be in school. We should also make sure that schools are in a conducive environment for learning.

“This has been one of our key mandates, and since the coming of this administration, we have taken that directive seriously. We have undertaken different reforms within the education sector.”

According to her, one of the major reforms is the development of minimum standards for schools across the country, requiring government interventions to address the overall needs of schools rather than focusing solely on classrooms.

Garba also announced a new approach to the construction of schools, saying new projects would be required to provide complete facilities rather than isolated blocks of classrooms.

“In addition to that, we have also developed minimum standards for new infrastructure. If we are building a new school, it is no longer going to be two blocks of classrooms where you see some of them abandoned in the bush,” she said.

“It has to be a whole school, which means the school will come with a fence, security measures, solar power, borehole, enough toilets and classrooms, an administrative block and a playground for students.

“We also want to ensure that we have the minimum technology, whether it is a computer laboratory, ICT laboratory or smartboard, to ensure that our children can compete in 21st-century education and the global economy,” she added.

During the inspection tour, the UBEC team visited the Primary and Government Junior Secondary School, Nyanya Hausawa, in the Abuja Municipal Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory.

The Director of Physical Planning, UBEC, Arch Nura Ibrahim, said the school was located in a remote, forested area and had previously suffered from serious infrastructural deficiencies.

He said a condition assessment was carried out before the intervention to determine the extent of work required.

“The first thing we observed was that some of the buildings were completely defective and had lost their structural integrity. Some of the classrooms were unsafe. The beams were cracked and some parts had already fallen apart,” Ibrahim said.

According to the rehabilitation brief, the Nyanya Hausawa project was executed under UBEC’s 2025 Direct Intervention Project and covered the rehabilitation, furnishing and equipping of the LEA Nursery and Primary School and Government Junior Secondary School.

The principal of the school, Gideon Isah, described the commissioning of the renovated facilities as a historic occasion, recalling the poor condition of the school before the intervention.

He said some pupils had previously been forced to sit on bare floors because there were not enough chairs.