Nigeria’s education ministry has officially scrapped a three-year-old policy that mandated the use of indigenous languages in early schooling, citing poor academic performance and implementation challenges.
Education Minister Dr. Tunji Alausa announced the reversal in Abuja, confirming that English will once again be the primary language of instruction from pre-primary through tertiary levels. The decision marks the end of a reform introduced in 2022 by former Education Minister Adamu Adamu, who had argued that children learn more effectively in their mother tongue — a view supported by global research.
However, recent data from national exams — including WAEC, NECO, and JAMB — revealed significantly lower pass rates in regions that adopted mother-tongue instruction. “We have seen mass failure rates in zones that over-subscribed to the policy,” Dr. Alausa stated.
The abrupt cancellation has sparked mixed reactions. Supporters of the reversal, including education expert Dr. Aliyu Tilde, argue that Nigeria lacks the infrastructure to support multilingual instruction. “We don’t have trained teachers or standardized exams in local languages,” he said.
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Parents like Hajara Musa welcomed the move, saying early exposure to English better prepares children for global opportunities. “English is used everywhere. It’s better they start early,” she told the BBC.
Others, however, believe the policy was abandoned prematurely. Social affairs analyst Habu Dauda said, “Three years is too short to judge such a major shift. The government should have invested more in training and materials.”
Nigeria’s education system continues to face deep-rooted challenges, including underfunding, teacher shortages, and high dropout rates. Despite high primary school enrollment, less than half of students complete secondary education, and over 10 million children remain out of school — the highest number globally, according to the UN.
The debate over language instruction reflects a broader struggle to balance cultural preservation with the demands of a globalized economy, where English proficiency remains a key driver of opportunity.
