Funding allocated for the construction of new classrooms under the Federal Government’s World Bank-backed education programme has dropped by 55.3% after a restructuring of the $500 million HOPE for Quality Basic Education for All project.
A World Bank restructuring paper showed that allocations tied to the creation of new primary classrooms through community participation declined from $5.7 million to $2.55 million following changes to the Global Partnership for Education financing component of the programme.
The HOPE-Education programme was approved in March 2025 with a $500 million International Development Association credit and a $52.18 million GPE grant aimed at improving literacy, expanding access to education, and strengthening school systems across participating states.
According to the World Bank, the restructuring became necessary after Nigeria’s allocation under the GPE System Transformation Grant was reduced from $107.59 million to $53.98 million.
Classroom funding cut by over half
The restructuring document showed that funding for government-community agreements tied to classroom construction was reduced from $500,000 to $300,000.
- Similarly, allocations linked to the delivery of 13,000 new classrooms fell sharply from $5.2 million to $2.25 million.
- Despite the reduction in financing, the programme retained its target of constructing 13,000 new primary classrooms by June 2029.
The World Bank noted that the restructuring did not affect the programme’s development objectives, implementation arrangements, or closing date.
The lender also disclosed that the project became effective on February 26, 2026 and was still in the early stages of implementation.
Data from the report further showed that none of the $500 million IDA facility had been disbursed as of the restructuring date, leaving the entire amount undisbursed.
Programme expanded to more states
Although funding under some components was reduced, the scope of the programme was widened.
- The World Bank disclosed that activities under Results Area 1 would now cover 33 states, up from the initial 30 states approved under the programme.
- Abia, Bauchi, and Kwara were added to the list of states eligible for targeted interventions under the revised arrangement.
The report explained that the Federal Government proposed that the reduced GPE allocation should be managed solely by the World Bank after UNICEF stopped co-managing part of the original funding arrangement.
- According to the document, “the Government of Nigeria proposed the reduced allocation be managed entirely by the World Bank through HOPE-Education, while requesting the addition of three states previously endorsed to receive support through the UNICEF STG funding amount.”
The programme is expected to support 19.48 million primary school pupils and bring 2.86 million out-of-school children into formal and non-formal literacy programmes by 2029.
It also aims to ensure that 35 states digitally publish annual school census reports on time before the end of the programme cycle.
Learning materials, school grants gain larger allocations
While classroom financing declined, funding linked to teaching materials and school grants increased under the revised structure.
The World Bank introduced new disbursement-linked indicators focused on ensuring that at least 80% of public primary schools in participating GPE states have sufficient literacy and numeracy materials for both lower and upper primary classes.
- As a result, allocations for teaching and learning materials increased from $6.67 million to $10.99 million.
- Funding tied to annual school grants also rose from $4.73 million to $7.87 million, while allocations linked to annual school census reporting increased from $4.45 million to $5.68 million.
However, allocations connected to literacy and numeracy proficiency indicators fell from $7.93 million to $5.06 million.
Funding for non-formal basic education programmes targeting out-of-school children also declined from $1.73 million to $1.28 million under the restructuring plan.
What you should know
Nairametrics earlier reported that the Federal Government of Nigeria launched an education reform initiative, the HOPE for Quality Basic Education for All (HOPE-EDU) — backed by $552.18 million secured from the World Bank and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).
According to the current Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, the HOPE-EDU programme is structured to address the long-standing problems in Nigeria’s basic education sector.
