The Nigerian Federal Government has announced the introduction of 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.
According to the education minister, Tunji Alausa, the initiative is designed to address the growing proliferation of textbooks in schools and ensure that only high-quality, curriculum-compliant learning materials are approved for classroom use.
According to the minister, under the new system, the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, NERDC will 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.
A statement signed by education ministry spokesperson, Boriowo Folasade said 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.
The statement added that 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 according to the education ministry 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.
Furthermore, 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.
Implementation of the National Textbook Ranking System, according to the education ministry will commence from September 2026 academic sessions following the establishment of the Standing Subject Committees and completion of the evaluation framework.
(Editor: Roluke Ogundele)
