Spatial Planning for School Location and Catchment Areas in Bauchi Local Government Area

Equitable access to primary education requires that school locations be spatially optimised relative to the distribution of school-age populations, particularly in rapidly urbanising North East Nigerian cities. This study undertakes spatial planning for primary school locations and catchment area delineation in Bauchi Local Government Area, Bauchi State. GPS coordinates of all 142 registered public primary schools are collected and entered into a GIS database alongside school enrolment data from the Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board. Population data for school-age children aged six to twelve years are estimated from NPC projections disaggregated to enumeration area level. Service area polygons are generated for each school using a one-kilometre walking distance threshold, and unserved population pockets are identified as areas beyond all school service areas. Results reveal that over 35,000 school-age children live outside any primary school catchment boundary in the study area, concentrated in newly developed peripheral wards. School overcrowding is also identified in five schools serving densely populated wards without proximate alternatives. The study proposes ten optimal sites for new school construction, ranked by the size of unserved population they would bring within catchment. Outputs are provided to the Bauchi State Ministry of Education for integration into capital budget planning. Keywords: school location planning, catchment analysis, GIS, Bauchi State, primary education.