FG to introduce Learner Identification Number for primary school students

The Federal Government is set to introduce a Learner Identification Number (LIN) for school children from primary school level, aimed at tracking their academic progress throughout their education journey.

Speaking during an interactive session with journalists in Lagos, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said the initiative is part of efforts to improve the education sector and increase the number of pupils successfully transitioning from basic to senior secondary school.

“We have over 50,000 public primary schools in the country with over 23 million pupils. However, from statistics available to us, only a little over 3 million among those pupils move to the junior secondary school level in our public schools, then the question is, where are the about 20 million not enrolled in our public secondary schools? It is obvious that we cannot say our private schools accommodate all of them.

“The issue is simply lack of access, and we are working on that. There is need to build more schools, and I have met the Nigerian Governors’ Forum over that. State governments need to build more schools to accommodate more pupils and students.

“To also follow up on our pupils and students, we are introducing the Learner Identification Number right from primary school level for our children. It will be unique to each child, and they will have the number no matter where they started schooling or later transferred to.

“If somebody is expected to be in JSS class one and he is not there, we will be able to know the reason why he is not continuing his education,” Alausa explained.