The Federal Government has announced a major reform in Nigeria’s education sector with the introduction of a National Textbook Ranking System for primary, junior, and senior secondary schools.
The initiative was unveiled by the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, alongside the Minister of State for Education, Suwaba Sai’d Ahmad. It is aimed at curbing the proliferation of substandard textbooks and ensuring that only high-quality, curriculum-compliant learning materials are used in classrooms nationwide.
Under the new framework, the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) will maintain its statutory responsibility of approving textbooks but will now also rank them through a comprehensive national evaluation process.
According to government officials, this ranking system will identify the most suitable textbooks for each subject and educational level, based on strict academic and pedagogical standards.
To implement the reform, NERDC will establish subject-based expert committees tasked with reviewing submitted textbooks. These committees will assess content quality, clarity, relevance, and alignment with national curriculum standards before assigning rankings.
In a significant policy shift, only a limited number of top-ranked textbooks will be approved for use per subject, effectively eliminating the long-standing issue of excessive and often confusing textbook options in schools.
The government further stated that any textbook not ranked under the new system will be prohibited from classroom use, regardless of prior approval, underscoring its commitment to quality assurance.
The policy is scheduled to take effect from the September 2026 academic session and will be supported by nationwide sensitisation campaigns targeting teachers, school administrators, and other stakeholders.
Officials say the reform aligns Nigeria with global best practices in instructional material standardisation and is part of broader efforts to improve learning outcomes and strengthen the overall quality of education.
