Achieving the Goals of Secondary Education in Nigeria: The Role of Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is an essential tool for effectively pursuing and achieving set objectives, particularly in education. It is no less a critical component and inalienable tool in the educational sector to pursue and achieve set educational goals and objectives across the different levels of education. In Nigeria, secondary education serves as a bridge between the primary and tertiary levels of education. The extent and strength of the effectiveness of this level of education is critical to the country’s socio-economic development. It is in the light of this fact that this paper examines the role of strategic planning in the pursuit and achievement of the goals of the Nigerian secondary education system. In so doing, it explores existing relevant strategies, challenges of their effective involvement and the implications of effective planning is a vis the realization of set goals. Also, it examines the current state of secondary education, highlighting its challenges and opportunities and then the principles and processes of strategic planning; emphasizing its relevance in the context of Nigerian system. Drawing on relevant literature, the paper highlights how strategic planning can enhance the quality, accessibility, and equitability of secondary education in Nigeria. It concludes by pointedly identifying the benefits of strategic planning in enhancing the quality, effectiveness and continued relevance of secondary education in Nigeria.