Nigeria Scraps Mother-Tongue Education Policy, Reinstates English as Medium of Instruction
The Nigerian government has announced the immediate cancellation of its three-year-old policy that mandated teaching in indigenous languages during the early years of schooling. The move marks a major reversal in the country’s education strategy and has sparked nationwide debate among educators, analysts, and parents.
Education Minister Dr. Tunji Alausa confirmed the policy’s withdrawal in Abuja, explaining that the programme had failed to produce the expected results. English will now be reinstated as the medium of instruction from pre-primary school through to the university level.
The mother-tongue policy, introduced under former Education Minister Adamu Adamu, was based on the belief—supported by several UN-backed studies—that children learn better when taught in their first language. At the time, Adamu argued that pupils understood concepts more easily in their mother tongue, a view widely endorsed in global early-childhood education research.
However, despite its theoretical merit, the policy’s implementation faced serious challenges. Nigeria’s education system already struggles with poor teaching quality, inadequate learning resources, chronic teacher strikes, and an overstretched school infrastructure. Although 85% of children attend primary school, fewer than half complete secondary education, and an estimated 10 million children remain out of school—the highest number globally, according to the UN.
Dr. Alausa said academic performance had noticeably declined in regions where mother-tongue teaching was heavily adopted. He cited results from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the National Examinations Council (NECO), and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), pointing to “mass failure rates” in such areas.
“We have seen a mass failure rate in WAEC, Neco, and Jamb in certain geo-political zones of the country, and those are the ones that adopted this mother tongue in an over-subscribed manner,” he stated.
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The abrupt policy reversal has generated mixed reactions. Some education specialists and parents welcome the decision, agreeing that the country lacked the preparation and resources needed to roll out the programme effectively.
Education expert Dr. Aliyu Tilde praised the government’s decision, noting that Nigeria does not have enough trained teachers capable of teaching in the country’s many indigenous languages.
“Does Nigeria have trained teachers to teach in the dozens of indigenous languages in the country? The answer is no. Also, major exams like WAEC and JAMB are in English,” Dr. Tilde said, adding that improving education quality begins with investing in qualified teachers.
Parents such as Hajara Musa also support the return to English.
“English is a global language that is used everywhere, and I feel it’s better these kids start using it from the start of their schooling instead of waiting for when they are older,” she told the BBC.
Others believe the government’s decision was hasty. Social affairs analyst Habu Dauda argued that the policy was abandoned too soon.
“I think it was scrapped prematurely. Three years is too little to judge a big shift such as this— the government ought to have added more investment,” he said.
The controversy underscores Nigeria’s complex struggle to balance its rich cultural and linguistic diversity with the practical demands of its national curriculum and the realities of a globalized economy where English proficiency remains essential.
As the nation returns to English-led instruction, the debate continues over how best to preserve indigenous languages while improving the quality and competitiveness of Nigeria’s education system.
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