iDeemlawfulThe Federal Government has abolished the national policy mandating the use of indigenous languages as the medium of instruction in Nigerian schools.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced the decision on Wednesday at the 2025 Language in Education International Conference, organised by the British Council in Abuja.
According to PUNCH, the policy reversal was approved during the 69th meeting of the National Council on Education, held in Akure, Ondo State, from November 3 to 7.
The scrapped policy, introduced in 2022 as the National Language Policy, required that children from Early Childhood Education to Primary Six be taught in their mother tongue or in the language of their immediate community.
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“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 the mother tongue in an oversubscribed manner.
“This is about evidence-based governance. English now stands as the medium of instruction from pre-primary, primary, junior secondary, senior secondary, and tertiary education,” he said.
Alausa added, “Using the mother tongue language in Nigeria for the past 15 years has literally destroyed education in certain regions. We have to talk about evidence, not emotions.”
Over the years, education stakeholders have advocated for the adoption of indigenous languages as a means of instruction, arguing that it enhances comprehension among students. In countries like China and Russia, native languages are commonly used for teaching.