RESOURCES
Education policies, laws and edicts
The instruments that govern schooling in Kano State: the federal Acts that bind every state, the State laws and edicts made by the House of Assembly, and the policies, frameworks and handbooks issued by the Ministry under them.
Where the Ministry gets its powers
Education in Nigeria is on the concurrent list, which means both the Federal Government and the States may legislate on it. In practice the Federal Government sets the shape of the system — the nine years of basic education, the curriculum, the certificates, the standard a teacher must reach — and the States run the schools. Kano State does that through the Kano State Education Law, Cap. 47, which establishes the Ministry, and through the separate laws and edicts that create each of the eight boards and agencies.
A parent, a head teacher or a proprietor rarely needs to read the law itself. What matters day to day is the instrument below it: the policy that says what the law means in a classroom, the regulation that fixes a ceiling on a fee, the handbook that tells an inspector what to look for, and the circular that tells a school what to do this term. All four are published, and all four are binding on the officers of the Ministry as much as on the schools.
Where an instrument on this page conflicts with something a school has told you, the instrument prevails. Quote it, in writing, to the head teacher and copy the Education Secretary for the local government area. If that does not resolve it, the complaint route is set out at /contact/feedback.
The instruments in force
Federal Acts, State laws and edicts, and the policies and handbooks made under them. Certified copies may be read at the Ministry registry and at the Kano State Central Library.
| Instrument | Year | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Kano State Education Law, Cap. 47 | 1991 | The parent law. Establishes the Ministry of Education, defines its functions, provides for the Commissioner and the Permanent Secretary, and gives the Commissioner power to make regulations on schools, teachers, examinations and fees. |
| Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act | 2004 | Makes nine years of basic education — Primary 1 to JSS 3 — free and compulsory. Places a duty on the parent to send the child, and on the State to provide the place, the teacher and the materials. Prohibits any fee, levy or charge in a public basic school. |
| Universal Basic Education Commission Act | 2004 | Creates UBEC and the matching-grant system that funds classrooms, teacher development and instructional materials. The State accesses its share only by paying its own counterpart contribution first and accounting for the last tranche. |
| National Policy on Education (6th edition) | 2013 | The national framework: the 1-6-3-3-4 structure, the aims of each level, the language policy, the subject core, class sizes, the place of religious and moral instruction, and the standards for teacher qualification. |
| Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria Act, Cap. T3 | 2004 | Makes teaching a registered profession. Nobody may lawfully teach in any school in Nigeria, public or private, without registration with the Council. Fixes the minimum qualification and provides for a register, a practising licence and discipline. |
| Child Rights Law of Kano State | 2010 | Domesticates the child rights framework in the State. Guarantees the right to free compulsory basic education, prohibits acts that keep a child out of school, sets the standard for discipline in schools and creates the duty to report a child at risk. |
| Kano State Private and Voluntary Institutions Edict | 1988 | Requires every fee-paying, community and mission school in the State to hold an approval before it opens a door to a pupil. Provides for provisional and full approval, for inspection, for renewal and for closure of an unapproved school. |
| Kano State Qur'anic and Islamiyyah Schools Management Board Law | 2001 | Establishes the board that registers and supports Tsangaya, integrated Islamiyyah and non-integrated Islamiyyah schools, provides for the Mallam stipend, and creates the Qur'anic and Islamic Studies Certificate. |
| Kano State Education Development Trust Fund Law | 2019 | Sets aside one per cent of the State consolidated fund for education infrastructure and equipment, establishes the board that administers it, and fixes the split at sixty per cent educational equipment and forty per cent structures. |
| Kano State Policy on Girl-Child Education | 2016 | The State response to the gender gap in enrolment and completion: conditional cash transfers to households, female teacher recruitment targets, separate sanitation in every school, a re-entry guarantee for girls who left, and the annual publication of the gender parity index. |
| Kano State Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Policy | 2019 | Brings Tsangaya learners into a curriculum that keeps their religious study intact and adds literacy, numeracy, a trade, feeding and health screening. Provides for enumeration of out-of-school children ward by ward and for a place for each one. |
| Kano State Inclusive Education Policy | 2021 | Requires every school to admit learners with disabilities, sets the standard for ramps, sanitation and assistive materials, provides for specialist units and itinerant teachers, and forbids a school from refusing a child on grounds of disability. |
| Kano State School Feeding Guidelines | 2017 | Governs the home-grown school feeding programme: the menu and its nutritional floor, the selection and payment of caterers, food-handling and hygiene standards, procurement from local farmers, and the daily register that triggers payment. |
| Teacher Professional Development Framework | 2014 | Fixes the entitlement of every teacher to continuing professional development, the minimum contact hours a session, the upgrading route from Grade II and NCE to a degree, and the link between development records and promotion. |
| Quality Assurance and Inspection Handbook | 2022 | What an inspector looks at and how a school is judged: the twelve statutory criteria, the evidence for each, the four-point scale, the verdict categories, the improvement notice, and the timetable for a follow-up visit. |
| Approved Schools Fee Regulation | 2023 | Publishes the ceilings that may be charged in a public senior secondary school, a science secondary school and a technical college, and requires every approved private school to file its fee schedule before the session and to charge nothing outside it. |
A circular is not a policy
The two are confused constantly, and the difference matters. A policy states a settled position and stays in force until it is formally replaced: the girl-child policy, the inclusive education policy, the fee regulation. It is approved at the level of the Commissioner or the State Executive Council, it is dated, it is numbered, and it applies to everyone within its scope until a superseding instrument says otherwise.
A circular is an instruction for a particular moment, issued under an existing policy by the Permanent Secretary or a Director. It tells schools when to resume, how the school day is adjusted during Ramadan, that census enumerators will arrive in week six, that a particular textbook edition has been withdrawn. A circular expires when the thing it governs has happened. It cannot create a new obligation that the policy behind it does not already contain, and a circular that appears to do so should be queried rather than obeyed.
Both are issued on Ministry letterhead, carry a reference number, and are copied to every board, every Zonal Education Office and every Local Government Education Authority. If a school shows you an instruction with no reference number and no signature of a Director or above, it is not an instrument of the Ministry, whatever the school calls it.
The order of authority
When two instruments say different things, the one higher on this list wins.
- The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
- A federal Act — the Universal Basic Education Act, the TRCN Act
- A law of the Kano State House of Assembly — the Education Law, Cap. 47
- An edict or subsidiary legislation made under a State law
- A regulation made by the Honourable Commissioner for Education
- A State policy approved by the State Executive Council
- A framework, guideline or handbook issued by the Ministry
- A circular issued by the Permanent Secretary or a Director
- A board or school rule, which may never contradict anything above it
Reading a certified copy
Certified copies of every instrument on this page may be read free of charge at the Ministry registry, Audu Bako Secretariat, between 8:00 and 16:00 from Monday to Friday, and at the Kano State Central Library at Kofar Nassarawa. Bring identification and sign the register.
A certified photocopy for use in a court or a tribunal is issued on written application to the Permanent Secretary and is signed and sealed by the Director, Legal Services.
How the policy shelf was built
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1988
Private schools brought under approval
The Private and Voluntary Institutions Edict ended the position in which anyone could open a school and call it one. Approval, inspection and renewal date from this instrument.
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1991
The Education Law, Cap. 47
The Ministry as it exists today was established, with the Commissioner given the regulation-making power that everything below the law now rests on.
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2001
Qur'anic and Islamiyyah schools recognised
The State became one of the first to give its Tsangaya and Islamiyyah estate a statutory board rather than leaving it outside the system altogether.
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2004
Basic education made free and compulsory
The federal Act removed fees from Primary 1 to JSS 3 and made attendance a duty on the parent. Enrolment in the State has risen in every session since.
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2013
The sixth edition of the national policy
The current curriculum structure, the language policy and the subject core were settled in the form the schools use today.
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2016
The girl-child policy
The State set a measurable target for the first time. The gender parity index has moved from 0.68 to 0.90 across the sessions since.
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2019
The trust fund and the almajiri policy
One per cent of the State consolidated fund was earmarked for education infrastructure, and the integration of Tsangaya learners became a policy with a budget rather than an aspiration.
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2022
Inspection standardised
The Quality Assurance and Inspection Handbook replaced twelve different inspection practices with one set of criteria, one scale and one published verdict.
Common questions about the law
A public school is asking my child for a levy. Is that lawful?
Can a school refuse to admit my child because she has a disability?
Is a private school allowed to raise its fees mid-session?
What happens to a parent who keeps a child out of school?
Does the law say anything about corporal punishment?
Who may make a rule that binds my school?
Need a copy, or think an instrument is being breached?
The registry will supply a certified copy of any instrument on this page. If a school or an office is acting against one, tell the Ministry and it will be looked into.