SENIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION
Senior secondary schools
SS 1 to SS 3 in 268 public senior secondary schools under the Kano State Senior Secondary Schools Management Board. Four streams, three years, and the certificate that decides what a young person can do next.
Three years that settle a great deal
Senior secondary is where the education system stops being the same for everybody. A pupil arriving in SS 1 chooses a stream — science, arts, commercial or technical — and the eight or nine subjects that follow from it, and those subjects determine which courses a university or a polytechnic will consider them for three years later. The choice is made once, in the first weeks of SS 1, on the strength of the Qualifying Examination result, the JSS 3 record and a counselling interview with the parent present.
The Kano State Senior Secondary Schools Management Board manages 268 public senior secondary schools with about 340,000 students and 14,800 teachers. Some are day schools serving a town; some are boarding schools drawing from the whole State; a number are single-sex girls' schools. Alongside them sit 18 science secondary schools and 14 technical colleges run by the Science and Technical Schools Board, which admit on the same Qualifying Examination but select more tightly.
Tuition in a public senior secondary school is free. What a school may charge is a short published list of ceilings — a parent–teacher association levy, a laboratory and workshop charge, a sports and library charge, the uniform, and boarding for those who board. Nothing outside that list may lawfully be asked for, and the ceilings are the maximum, not a standard price.
Senior secondary in numbers
268
Senior secondary schools
Managed by KSSMB
340,000
Students in SS 1–3
186,000 boys · 154,000 girls
138,400
WASSCE candidates
Entry paid in full by the State
₦0
Tuition
Free in every public senior secondary school
The four streams
Every school offers science and arts. Commercial is offered in most, and technical only where the school has the workshops for it. A stream is chosen in SS 1 and changed only in the first term, with the approval of the principal.
Science
The largest stream
Physics, Chemistry and Biology on top of the compulsory subjects, with Further Mathematics, Geography or Agricultural Science as the additional. The route into medicine, engineering, the sciences and agriculture.
Arts
Humanities and languages
Literature in English, Government and Islamic Studies or Christian Religious Studies, with Hausa Language, Arabic Studies or Geography alongside. The route into law, the humanities, education and public administration.
Commercial
Business and accounts
Economics, Business Studies and Computer Studies, with Government or Geography as the additional. The route into accountancy, banking, business administration and the management courses.
Technical
Where the workshops allow
Technical Drawing, Basic Technology and Physics, taught in schools with a working workshop. The route into engineering technology, the polytechnics and the technical colleges.
Subject combinations by stream
English Language, Mathematics and Civic Education are compulsory for every student in every stream. Religious studies is taught according to the faith of the student. A student sits eight or nine subjects at WASSCE and NECO.
| Stream | Compulsory for all | Stream subjects | Usual additional subject |
|---|---|---|---|
| Science | English Language · Mathematics · Civic Education | Physics · Chemistry · Biology | Further Mathematics, Geography or Agricultural Science |
| Arts | English Language · Mathematics · Civic Education | Literature in English · Government · Islamic Studies or Christian Religious Studies | Hausa Language, Arabic Studies or Geography |
| Commercial | English Language · Mathematics · Civic Education | Economics · Business Studies · Computer Studies | Government or Geography |
| Technical | English Language · Mathematics · Civic Education | Technical Drawing · Basic Technology · Physics | Chemistry or Computer Studies |
How a student gets an SS 1 place
Placement into SS 1 is made by the Senior Secondary Schools Management Board from the Qualifying Examination result. There is no separate application and no application fee.
Sit the Qualifying Examination in JSS 3
Five papers in the first week of July: English Language, Mathematics, Basic Science, Basic Technology and a general paper. Entry is paid by the State for candidates in public schools.
Name preferences and indicate boarding
The entry form takes three preferred senior secondary schools and asks whether the candidate wishes to be considered for boarding, for a science secondary school or for a technical college.
Placement is published before resumption
The board publishes to schools and to the zonal education offices. Placement weighs the Qualifying Examination score, the BECE result, the preferences and the distance from home. Science secondary schools and technical colleges take their intake first, from the top of the list.
Report with the placement slip
Take the placement slip, the BECE result, the JSS 3 transfer certificate, proof of age and four passport photographs. A boarder also takes the medical form the school issues.
Choose the stream in the first fortnight
The principal, the counselling teacher and the parent settle the stream together, on the JSS 3 subject record. A change of stream after the first term of SS 1 is not permitted, because the syllabus has already diverged.
Approved fee ceilings, public senior secondary school
These are ceilings, not prices. A school may charge less and many do. A school may not charge more, may not invent a charge that is not on this list, and may not refuse a student a seat, a report card or an examination entry for non-payment of any charge that is not mandatory.
| Item | Ceiling | Period | Who pays it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuition | No charge | Per term | Applies to every student |
| PTA levy | ₦2,500 | Per term | Only if the service is taken |
| Laboratory and workshop charge | ₦3,000 | Per term | Only if the service is taken |
| Sports and library charge | ₦1,500 | Per term | Only if the service is taken |
| Uniform and games kit | ₦9,500 | Per session | Only if the service is taken |
| Boarding and feeding | ₦42,000 | Per term | Only if the service is taken |
| WASSCE / SSCE entry (SS 3) | No charge | Once | Only if the service is taken |
Boarding or day
Roughly one senior secondary student in five boards. Boarding is the norm in the science secondary schools, common in the older single-sex schools and in schools serving a wide rural catchment, and rare in the metropolitan day schools. A boarding place is offered at placement, not applied for afterwards, and the boarding and feeding charge is the one substantial cost a family faces in public senior secondary education.
A day student pays no boarding charge at all. Where a family cannot meet the boarding charge for a place that has been offered, the school's welfare committee and the zonal education office can put the student forward for a State bursary, which meets the charge in full for the session. Ask the principal in the first fortnight rather than at the end of term.
- Boarding and feeding is charged per term and only to boarders.
- Boarding is standard in science secondary schools and in most technical colleges.
- The State bursary can meet the boarding charge for a student who cannot pay.
- No student may be sent home for a charge that is not mandatory.
Questions parents and students ask
What examinations are sat at the end of SS 3?
How many subjects should my child enter for?
What counts as a good result?
Can a student change stream?
The school is asking for a fee I do not recognise. What should I do?
Can a student who left return to finish SS 3?
How do I check a result?
Three years, one certificate
Tuition is free in every public senior secondary school in Kano State, and the State pays the WASSCE and NECO entry for every candidate in one.