FG Unveils National Textbook Ranking System After Concerned Mother’s Criticism
By Alice Etuka, Abuja
The Federal Government has introduced a National Textbook Ranking System for Primary, Junior and Senior Secondary Schools across the country as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen quality assurance and standardisation in Nigeria’s education sector.
Director, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Boriowo Folasade announced this in a statement on Monday.
TheFact Daily gathered that a Nigerian mother, identified as Maryqueen had posted a TikTok video criticizing a “disturbing” passage in her child’s English Language Foundation textbook.
The passage allegedly depicted cruelty towards animals, which she deemed inappropriate for young learners.
The textbook passage described an elderly man burning his dog with a hot iron for failing to guard meat.
Boriowo said the initiative was designed to address the growing proliferation of textbooks in schools and ensure that only high-quality, curriculum-compliant learning materials were approved for classroom use.
Announcing the development, Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa alongside the Minister of State for Education, Professor Suiwaba Ahmad stated that under the new system, the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) would continue to exercise its statutory authority to approve textbooks for use in Nigerian schools.
However, beyond approval, textbooks will now be ranked through a structured national evaluation process to determine the most suitable and highest-quality options for each subject and level of education.
As part of the reform, NERDC will establish Standing Subject Committees comprising experts in relevant subject areas. These committees will conduct rigorous reviews of textbooks submitted by publishers and evaluate them based on clearly defined academic and pedagogical standards.
Following this evaluation process, only a limited number of textbooks will be ranked and approved for use in schools for each subject, ensuring improved quality control and consistency in teaching and learning materials across the country.
The introduction of the ranking system is expected to significantly reduce the excessive number of textbooks currently in circulation in many schools, which has often created confusion for teachers, students and parents. The reform also aims to bring greater transparency, order and quality assurance into the textbook approval process while aligning Nigeria’s education system with international best practices in instructional material standardisation.
Under the new policy, NERDC will continue its responsibility of licensing textbooks. However, any textbook that is not ranked under the new system will not be permitted for use in Nigerian schools, regardless of prior licensing status.
The Federal Government will also be communicating the new ranking policy to teachers and other key stakeholders in the education sector to ensure proper awareness and compliance with the new framework.
Implementation of the National Textbook Ranking System will commence from September 2026 academic sessions following the establishment of the Standing Subject Committees and completion of the evaluation framework.
The Federal Government reaffirmed that the reform forms part of broader efforts to strengthen the quality of education delivery, enhance learning outcomes and ensure that Nigerian students are equipped with the best possible learning resources.
