IMPACT OF UNIVERSAL BASIC EDUCATION POLICY ON THE LEVEL OF PUPILS DROP-OUT IN PLATEAU AND NASARAWA STATES, NIGERIA

This study looked at how the introduction of the Universal Basic Education program affected the number of students who dropped out in Pleateau and Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The research uses a descriptive survey design and Plateau and Nasarawa states were chosen as case study. The states were divided into local government areas using a stratified manner. Thirty (30) schools and six (6) UBE offices were chosen at random from six (6) local governments in each of the two States; finally, purposive sampling was employed to pick five (5) teachers from each of the 30 schools and five (5) respondents from each of the six UBE offices. A total of 180 people (teachers and UBE employees) were surveyed. The respondents were polled using a closed - ended questionnaire. To address the study's research questions, inferential statistics of means and standard deviation were used. With the use of SPSS, regression and correlat ion analyses were done to evaluate the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. Findings demonstrate that UBE policies are at a high average stage of implementation in Pleateau and Nasarawa State, Nigeria, with a mean score of 3.75, while pupil drop -out is at a low average stage, with a mean score of 2.45, due to UBE policy implementation. With a 0.000 level of significance, the hypothesis shows that the implementation of the UBE policy has a significant impact on pupil dropout in Pleateau and Nasarawa State, Nigeria . More funding, better teacher welfare schemes, restructuring of professional but qualified teachers into the scheme, increased community participation in UBE policy implementation, and greater improvement in structures and infrastructural facilities for easier learning and better teacher performance were all recommended in the study.