Nigeria Reverts to English in Primary Schools

The Nigerian government has announced that it is repealing a controversial policy that mandated the use of local languages instead of English in the early years of schooling.

sarah

Nov 13, 2025 - 20:32

Nigeria Reverts to English in Primary Schools

Education Minister Tunji Alausa said the scheme, launched three years ago, had failed to deliver the expected results and was being scrapped with immediate effect.

Instead, English will be reinstated as the medium of instruction from pre-primary to university level.

This now-defunct program was initiated by former Education Minister Adamu Adamu, who argued that children learn more effectively in their mother tongue.

At the time, Adamu argued that when students are taught in their “mother tongue,” they grasp concepts more easily—an idea supported by numerous United Nations studies on early childhood education.

Announcing the withdrawal of the policy in the capital, Abuja, Dr. Alausa cited poor academic results in regions that had adopted the new policy as the primary reason for the change.

He cited data from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the National Examinations Council (NECO), and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

The minister said, "We have seen massive failures in WAEC, NECO, and JAMB in some geopolitical zones of the country, and these are the areas where this mother tongue received the highest number of applications."

The sudden cancellation of the policy has received mixed reactions from education experts, analysts, and parents.

Some have praised the government's decision, believing that its implementation was problematic and contributed to declining standards.

However, others believe that the policy was abandoned prematurely. They argue that this significant change requires substantial investment in teacher training, the development of textbooks and teaching materials, fair evaluation, and a long period of time before it bears fruit.

Education expert Dr. Aliyu Tilde, while praising the change, said Nigeria is not ready for such a move.

"Does Nigeria have teachers trained to teach in the country's dozens of local languages? The answer is no. Moreover, major exams like WAEC and Jamb are also conducted in English, not in those mother tongues."

"I think we need qualified teachers to improve the quality of our schools," she told the BBC.

Hazara Musa, a mother of two children in early childhood education schools, said she supports the change because it will help young children learn English at an early age.

"English is a global language used everywhere, and I think it would be better if these children started using it from the beginning of their schooling, rather than waiting until they were older," he told the BBC.

However, social affairs analyst Habu Dauda disagreed.

"I think it was canceled prematurely instead of giving it more time," he said. "Three years is too short to assess such a major change - the government should have invested more."

This debate highlights the current challenge in Nigeria of balancing the promotion of its rich linguistic heritage with the national curriculum and the practical demands of a globalized economy where English proficiency is key.