PROGRAMME · SINCE 2021

STEM and Digital Learning

Laboratory refits, 420 school ICT centres, a coding and robotics curriculum from JSS 1, and the annual Kano STEM Fair. Led by the Science and Technical Schools Board, with ₦11,400,000,000 committed this year for 264,000 learners.

Science taught in a laboratory, not on a board

For a long time science in most Kano schools was taught from a textbook and a blackboard, because that was what the school had. A pupil could reach SS 3, enter for Physics, Chemistry and Biology, and have handled apparatus perhaps twice. The result was visible in the practical papers and in what happened when those candidates reached a university laboratory.

The programme is the correction. It has three parts: rebuild the laboratories and keep them stocked, put a working ICT centre into schools that have never had one, and change what is taught so that computing is a subject a pupil does rather than reads about. It began in 2021 and it reaches about 264,000 learners across senior secondary, science secondary and technical schools, and increasingly into junior secondary.

The constraint is not enthusiasm. It is power, technicians and consumables — the three things that quietly decide whether a refitted laboratory is still working two years later. The programme funds all three explicitly: a solar installation with every ICT centre, a laboratory technician post in every school with a refitted laboratory, and a consumables line that is released each term rather than once at commissioning.

What has been put in

420

School ICT centres

Each with a solar installation

264,000

Learners reached

Junior and senior secondary, and technical

₦11.4bn

Committed this year

Led by the Science and Technical Schools Board

Science secondary schools

Fully refitted laboratories

The four strands

Equipment on its own does not change results. Each strand is funded with the thing that keeps it working attached to it.

Laboratory refits

Physics, Chemistry, Biology

Benching, services, fume extraction, apparatus and a termly consumables allocation, with a laboratory technician post funded in every school refitted. Science secondary schools first, then senior secondary schools by size of science enrolment.

School ICT centres

420 built

Twenty to forty machines, networking, a projector, and a solar installation with battery storage so that the centre works whether or not the grid does. Sited in schools with no prior provision before schools seeking a second centre.

Coding and robotics from JSS 1

Curriculum

A practical computing strand taught from JSS 1 through SS 3: block programming, then text programming, electronics and robotics, with a project each year. Taught by teachers trained on the strand, not by whoever is free.

The Kano STEM Fair

Annual

Every school in the programme enters a project. Zonal rounds feed a State final, and the winning teams take places at national competitions with the State meeting the cost. Prizes are equipment for the school, not cash.

Power, technicians and consumables

The reason refitted laboratories and computer rooms across Nigeria are so often found locked and unused two years after commissioning is not mysterious. There is no power, or the one person who knew how to run it has been posted elsewhere, or the reagents ran out in the first term and were never replaced. The capital cost is the easy part; the recurrent cost is what decides whether the capital was worth spending.

This programme funds the recurrent side deliberately. Every ICT centre is built with its own solar installation and battery storage, so it does not depend on the grid. Every refitted laboratory carries a funded laboratory technician post. Consumables are released each term against a stock return, not issued once at commissioning. And every installation is inspected annually, with the result published against the school.

Solar installation and battery storage with every ICT centre.
A funded laboratory technician post in every school with a refitted laboratory.
Consumables released termly against a stock return.
Annual inspection of every installation, published by school.
Maintenance contracts held centrally so a school is not left to find a repairer.

How a school is selected

Schools do not bid against each other for equipment. Selection runs on published criteria from the Annual School Census, and the list of schools funded each year is published.

The census identifies the gap

The Annual School Census records what each school has: laboratories and their condition, apparatus, computers in working order, power, and science and technical enrolment. That is the raw material for selection.

Schools are ranked by need and by size of benefit

A school with no provision at all ranks above a school seeking a second facility. Among schools with no provision, those with the largest science and technical enrolment rank first, since the same capital reaches more learners.

The school confirms it can host the installation

A securable room, a roof that will take panels, and a member of staff nominated for the technician or centre coordinator post. Where a school cannot meet this, the programme funds the building work as part of the package.

Installation, commissioning and training

The installation is commissioned with the head of school present, and the teachers who will use it are trained before the first lesson. A centre that is commissioned without trained teachers does not open.

The recurrent package starts immediately

The technician post is filled, the first term's consumables are released, and the maintenance contract begins on the commissioning date rather than at the end of a defects period.

Annual inspection, published

Every installation is inspected once a year against use, condition and stock. The result is published against the school, which is the mechanism that keeps a facility in use.

What a school receives, by package

Package	Capital	Recurrent	Who is eligible
Full science laboratory refit	Benching, services, extraction, apparatus for Physics, Chemistry and Biology	Technician post, termly consumables, annual inspection, maintenance contract	Science secondary schools; senior secondary schools with a science enrolment above 300
Single laboratory refit	One laboratory refitted and equipped for the subject of greatest need	Termly consumables, annual inspection, maintenance contract	Senior secondary schools with a working laboratory in poor condition
School ICT centre	20 to 40 machines, networking, projector, solar installation and battery storage	Centre coordinator, maintenance contract, annual inspection	Schools with no working computer provision, largest enrolment first
Robotics and electronics kit	Class set of kits and components	Consumables and component replacement each session	Schools teaching the coding and robotics strand from JSS 1
Technical workshop equipment	Machinery and tooling for a named trade	Consumables, safety equipment, annual workshop inspection	Government technical colleges and vocational centres

Questions asked about the programme

How does my child's school get an ICT centre?

Selection is made from the Annual School Census rather than by application, and schools with no working provision at all are taken first, largest enrolment ahead of smallest. A head teacher who believes the census understated the school's position should raise it with the local government education authority before the next enumeration.

What happens when the equipment breaks?

Maintenance contracts are held centrally, so the school reports the fault to the board rather than finding a repairer itself. Machines and apparatus are replaced from the maintenance line, not from the school's capitation.

Is coding taught in every school?

Not yet. The coding and robotics strand runs in schools with a working ICT centre and a trained teacher, which is about 420 of them at present, and it is extended each year as centres are commissioned. Computer Studies as a subject is on the curriculum everywhere.

Are girls in the programme?

Yes, and raising the share is an explicit objective — girls are about a third of science stream enrolment and under a third in technical. The programme funds female-only sessions in the ICT centres where that is what gets girls through the door, and the STEM Fair runs a category for girls' school teams.

Can a school use the ICT centre outside lesson times?

Yes, and it is encouraged: examination preparation, teacher use, adult literacy classes in the evening and community sessions at the weekend, provided the centre coordinator supervises and the equipment log is kept.

What is the STEM Fair and who can enter?

An annual competition open to every school in the programme. Teams enter a project, zonal rounds feed a State final, and winning teams take places at national competitions with the State meeting the cost. Prizes are equipment for the school rather than cash.

How is the programme measured?

Installations commissioned and, more importantly, installations still in use at annual inspection; practical examination entries and results in Physics, Chemistry and Biology; science and technical enrolment split between girls and boys; and the share of schools with power at the ICT centre.

Science, computing and the technical route

See which schools hold a refitted laboratory or an ICT centre, or read how the technical colleges and science secondary schools admit.

Science and technical schools The STSB board Education statistics