By Hopejane Uzor
The Federal Government has concluded plans to introduce a Learner Identification Number (LIN) for pupils from the primary school level to track academic progress and address the growing rate of school dropouts nationwide.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, made this known during an interactive session with journalists in Lagos, on March 22, 2026 stating that each pupil will be assigned a unique identification number irrespective of their school.
He explained that the system would enable education authorities to monitor students’ movement through the system and quickly identify those who fail to progress to the next level.
“If a child is expected to be in JSS1 and is not there, we will know and find out why,” he said.
The minister expressed concern over the sharp decline in transition rates, disclosing that out of over 23 million pupils in more than 50,000 public primary schools across the country, only about 3 million proceed to junior secondary schools in public institutions.
He noted that private schools are unable to absorb the large number of pupils left out, emphasizing that access to education remains a major challenge.
He added that the Federal Government is collaborating with state governments to construct more schools and expand infrastructure.
In another development, Alausa announced that the government plans to phase out the common entrance examination, replacing it with a Continuous Assessment (CA) system that evaluates pupils based on their performance from primary one.
According to him, the continuous assessment record will follow pupils even when they transfer between schools, ensuring consistency in evaluation. He further hinted at plans to revive the school feeding programme to boost enrollment in public schools, adding that the initiative will soon be moved from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to the Federal Ministry of Education for improved supervision.
