The Federal Government and the World Bank have revised the structure of the $500m HOPE for Quality Basic Education for All programme, reducing funding allocations linked to the construction of new classrooms while expanding the number of states benefiting from targeted interventions under the initiative.
Details of the restructuring were contained in a World Bank document dated May 20, 2026, obtained from the bank’s website on Thursday.
According to the report, the allocation dedicated to the construction of 13,000 new classrooms under the programme was reduced following adjustments to grant financing from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).
The World Bank explained that the restructuring became necessary after Nigeria’s GPE System Transformation Grant allocation was significantly reduced from $107.59m to $53.975m.
The report noted that the initial arrangement involved both the World Bank and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) serving as co-grant managers, each overseeing half of the original funding allocation. However, following the reduction in financing, the Federal Government proposed that the revised grant be fully managed by the World Bank through the HOPE-Education programme.
The HOPE-Education initiative, which received approval from the World Bank Board on March 31, 2025, is financed through a $500m International Development Association credit alongside a $52.18m GPE grant.
Under the restructuring, funding allocated to DLI 4 — which focuses on the creation of new primary school classrooms through community participation — was reduced from $5.7m to $2.55m.
The allocation meant for government-community agreements supporting classroom construction in 15 states dropped from $500,000 to $300,000, while the funding tied directly to the construction of 13,000 classrooms was reduced from $5.2m to $2.25m.
Despite the reduction in financial allocation, the overall target of constructing 13,000 classrooms remains unchanged under the updated results framework.
The World Bank clarified that there would be no changes to the programme’s development objectives, implementation structure, or closing date, describing the exercise as the first restructuring of the operation.
The revised arrangement also increased the number of states eligible for targeted interventions under Results Area 1 from three to six. Abia, Bauchi, and Kwara states were added to the existing list of participating states.
The updated list of GPE-supported states now includes Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Kebbi, Kwara, and Lagos.
The restructuring further affected allocations connected to teaching and learning materials, teacher mentoring, literacy assessments, school grants, and annual school census reporting.
Under DLI 1, which addresses the availability of teaching and learning materials, the earlier allocations were removed and replaced with new targets specifically for GPE-supported states. A fresh allocation of $7.419m was introduced to ensure that 80 per cent of public primary schools in participating states have adequate learning materials for pupils in Grades 1 to 3, while another $3.569m was allocated for Grades 4 to 6.
Funding under DLI 2, which focuses on structured teaching practices among teachers, was reduced from $14.866m to $12.664m after some allocations were adjusted downward and one performance indicator was completely removed.
Similarly, allocations under DLI 3 covering literacy and numeracy proficiency declined from $7.934m to $5.06m following the removal of a $3.9m allocation linked to improving literacy and numeracy performance among children in IDA-supported states.
Funding tied to out-of-school children under DLI 5 also dropped from $1.733m to $1.283m.
However, allocations for annual school grants under DLI 7 increased significantly from $4.73m to $7.865m, while allocations related to annual school census reporting under DLI 8 rose from $4.45m to $5.676m.
The World Bank added that the restructuring would require adjustments to the verification process for GPE-supported states, although the verification framework for IDA-supported states would remain unchanged.
According to the report, the HOPE-Education programme is designed to improve foundational learning outcomes, expand access to quality basic education, and strengthen education systems in participating states.
The programme officially became effective on February 26, 2026, and the World Bank stated that implementation efforts had already begun showing early signs of progress.
