REPORTS · ANNUAL REPORT
Annual report of the education sector
What the Ministry and its eight boards did in the 2025/2026 session: how many children were enrolled and who they were, what they achieved in the examinations, what was built, what was spent, and what the Ministry failed to do.
The year in summary
Enrolment in the 2025/2026 session stands at 3,400,000 learners in 4,800 schools across the 44 local government areas — an increase of 150,000 on the 3,250,000 enrolled in 2024/2025, or 4.6 per cent. Every one of those figures comes from the Annual School Census taken in the sixth week of the first term, not from an estimate.
The gender parity index moved from 0.86 to 0.90. Girls now account for 47.3 per cent of all enrolment, and the number of girls in school rose by 102,000 in a single session against 48,000 boys. The gap that remains is concentrated at two points: the move from primary into junior secondary in the rural local government areas, and the technical stream, where the parity index is still 0.45. Both are named in the sector plan and both carry a target.
Transition from JSS 3 into senior secondary reached 82.4 per cent, and basic education completion reached 74.6 per cent, up from 71.2 per cent. The Ministry recruited and posted 6,200 teachers in the session, of whom 2,840 are women, bringing the teaching and non-teaching establishment to 78,000. The pupil–teacher ratio is 44 to 1 across the State, but it is 61 to 1 in the ten most crowded primary schools of Dala, Fagge and Ungogo, and that is where the next intake will go.
1,240 classrooms were completed — 780 new and 460 renovated — together with 640 school water and sanitation projects, 96 refitted laboratories and 120 ICT centres. Against that: the capital vote was released at 79.4 per cent, three of the eight boards spent below 90 per cent of what they were given, and 216 classroom blocks that should have been handed over in the third term were still on site at the close of the session. Those are set out with their reasons in the budget performance report.
The 2025/2026 session in figures
3.40m
Learners enrolled
Up 150,000 on 2024/2025
4,800
Schools enumerated
Across 44 LGAs and eight boards
78,000
Teaching and non-teaching staff
6,200 recruited in the session
0.90
Gender parity index
From 0.86 in 2024/2025
82.4%
Transition to SS 1
From JSS 3, all school types
74.6%
Basic education completion
From 71.2 per cent
1,240
Classrooms completed
780 new, 460 renovated
₦168.4B
Education budget
27.4 per cent of the State budget
Enrolment by level, 2025/2026
From the Annual School Census. The gender parity index is girls divided by boys: 1.00 is parity, and anything below it means girls are under-represented at that level. Non-formal education is the one level where girls outnumber boys, because most adult literacy learners are women.
| Level | Boys | Girls | Total | Gender parity index |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-Primary | 214,000 | 198,000 | 412,000 | 0.93 |
| Primary | 986,000 | 874,000 | 1,860,000 | 0.89 |
| Junior Secondary | 312,000 | 268,000 | 580,000 | 0.86 |
| Senior Secondary | 186,000 | 154,000 | 340,000 | 0.83 |
| Technical | 26,400 | 12,000 | 38,400 | 0.45 |
| Non-Formal | 67,600 | 102,000 | 169,600 | 1.51 |
| All levels | 1,792,000 | 1,608,000 | 3,400,000 | 0.90 |
What each board delivered
Schools, learners and staff are the census position at the close of the session. The Education Development Support Board manages projects rather than schools and so carries no enrolment.
| Board | Schools | Learners | Staff | Delivered in 2025/2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SUBEB | 3,200 | 2,180,000 | 41,600 | 1,240 classrooms brought into use, capitation paid to every school in two tranches, 4,620 teachers posted through the 44 education authorities, 186,000 desks and chairs supplied. |
| KSSMB | 300 | 512,000 | 14,800 | SS 1 placement completed on time for 208,600 candidates, 268 examination centres accredited, 96 school laboratories re-equipped, 1,410 subject teachers posted. |
| STSB | 40 | 38,400 | 2,100 | 14 technical college workshops re-tooled, 8,400 candidates presented for the Trade Test, 18 science secondary schools brought to full apparatus standard. |
| KSQISMB | 900 | 486,000 | 11,200 | 480 Tsangaya centres carried in the integration programme, 46,200 learners presented for the certificate, feeding sustained for 214,000 almajirai. |
| PVIB | 300 | 164,000 | 7,400 | 214 approval decisions issued, 42 provisional approvals converted to full, 96 improvement notices served and 11 schools closed for operating without approval. |
| KSLB | 30 | 96,000 | 420 | 30 libraries open through the year, 186,400 registered readers, 74,000 examination candidates served in study spaces, 12,400 manuscript pages digitised. |
| AGMEd | 30 | 74,000 | 1,900 | 74,000 adult learners taught across 30 centres and 640 community circles, 21,400 presented for the Adult Literacy Certificate. |
| EDTFB | — | — | 260 | ₦14,700,000,000 of capital works executed — classrooms, water and sanitation, laboratories and ICT centres — each published with its contractor and completion. |
Examination outcomes
Entries are as registered; candidates sat is the number who presented themselves. The benchmark column states exactly what is being measured, because a pass rate quoted without its benchmark means nothing.
| Examination | Entries | Candidates sat | Benchmark | 2025/2026 | 2024/2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BECE | 214,800 | 211,600 | Pass in five subjects including English and Mathematics | 81.6% | 78.9% |
| SSCE | 141,200 | 139,700 | Five credits including English and Mathematics | 56.9% | 53.2% |
| WASSCE | 138,400 | 136,900 | Five credits including English and Mathematics | 58.4% | 54.1% |
| CE | 268,400 | 264,100 | Placed into JSS 1 | 96.2% | 95.4% |
| QE | 208,600 | 205,800 | Placed into SS 1, a science school or a technical college | 82.4% | 79.6% |
| QISC | 46,200 | 45,600 | Certificate awarded on memorisation, Tajweed, Fiqh and Arabic | 88.4% | 85.7% |
| TTT | 8,400 | 8,260 | Grade I or Grade II trade certificate | 71.8% | 68.4% |
| ALC | 21,400 | 20,900 | Functional literacy and numeracy in Hausa and English | 84.1% | 81.3% |
Performance against the sector plan service standards
Every service the Ministry publishes carries a turnaround counted in working days from a complete application. This is how far each was met in the session, against the target in the sector plan and against last session.
| Service standard | Target | 2025/2026 | 2024/2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Admission placement published within 15 working days of the window closing | 100% | 99.4% | 97.1% |
| Transfer certificate issued within 5 working days | 100% | 96.8% | 91.4% |
| New school approval decided within 45 working days | 95% | 93.2% | 86.5% |
| Annual private school inspection completed within 21 working days | 95% | 94.1% | 88.9% |
| Teacher registration and first licence within 30 working days | 95% | 92.6% | 85.3% |
| Teaching licence renewal issued within 21 working days | 95% | 96.4% | 90.2% |
| Examination result released within 45 days of the last paper | 100% | 98.9% | 94.7% |
| Inspection report published within 15 working days of the visit | 90% | 91.7% | 82.4% |
| Complaint acknowledged in 3 and resolved within 15 working days | 85% | 88.3% | 76.8% |
| Capitation first tranche released by week six of the first term | 100% | 100% | 92.0% |
| Scholarship awards announced within 60 working days of the cycle closing | 90% | 87.4% | 79.1% |
What the Ministry did through the session
-
Q1 · Sept–Dec 2025
Resumption and the Annual School Census
All schools resumed on 15 September. Free uniforms and exercise books were distributed in the first fortnight, and the census enumerated every school in the State in the week of 20 October, with a 99.2 per cent return rate.
-
Q1 · Sept–Dec 2025
Capitation released on time for the first session in four years
The first tranche reached every public basic school by the sixth week of term, and each school posted its account on the notice board at the end of the term.
-
Q2 · Jan–Mar 2026
Teacher recruitment and posting
6,200 teachers were recruited through the boards and the State Civil Service Commission, 2,840 of them women, and posted before the second term examinations. Rural postings carried the 20 per cent hardship allowance for the first full session.
-
Q2 · Jan–Mar 2026
Common Entrance and the private school approval round
268,400 candidates sat the Common Entrance in the third week of March. The Private and Voluntary Institute decided 214 approval applications and closed 11 schools operating without approval.
-
Q3 · Apr–Jun 2026
The external examination season
WASSCE ran from April and the BECE in the second week of June across 620 centres. Question papers were moved and held under police guard, and no paper leaked in the session.
-
Q3 · Apr–Jun 2026
Whole-school evaluation of 1,120 schools
Quality assurance teams from the six zones evaluated 1,120 schools against the twelve criteria. 96 improvement notices were served and every report was published against the school within 15 working days.
-
Q4 · Jul–Aug 2026
Qualifying Examination and SS 1 placement
208,600 candidates sat the Qualifying Examination in the first week of July and 82.4 per cent were placed into senior secondary, a science secondary school or a technical college before the session closed on 24 July.
-
Q4 · Jul–Aug 2026
Census tables and the open data release
The final census tables, the enrolment series and the budget outturn were published as machine-readable data under an open licence, alongside this report.
What the Ministry will do in the 2026/2027 session
Each of these carries a directorate, a budget line and a date. Progress against them will be reported in next session's annual report, including where they are not met.
- Post 8,000 additional teachers, with at least 40 per cent women, into the 120 schools with a pupil–teacher ratio above 60 to 1.
- Raise the gender parity index at the point of transition into junior secondary from 0.86 to 0.90.
- Bring 120 non-integrated Islamiyyah schools into the integrated curriculum and the census.
- Complete the 216 classroom blocks carried over from the 2025/2026 capital programme before the first term closes.
- Reduce the transfer certificate standard from 5 working days to 3, and publish attainment monthly.
- Extend the school feeding programme from Primary 3 to Primary 4 in the six local government areas with the lowest completion.
- Register the remaining 13,600 unregistered teachers with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria at zonal centres.
- Publish the school-level census return of every school in the State, so that a parent can read the return for their own school.
Where these figures come from
Enrolment, staffing and infrastructure figures are from the Annual School Census, enumerated in the sixth week of the first term and signed off by the Directorate of Planning, Research and Statistics. Examination figures are from the awarding bodies — WAEC, NECO, NABTEB and the Ministry's own Examinations Unit. Financial figures agree with the State's audited accounts for the year.
Where a figure has been revised since it was first published, the revision is logged in the dataset changelog at /reports/open-data rather than made silently. Query anything in this report on 0800 MOE KANO or at info@moe.kn.gov.ng, quoting the table and the row.
The numbers behind the report
Enrolment by year, level, sex and local government area, charted and downloadable, with the census tables and the budget outturn as data.