Manny Ita
The Federal Government of Nigeria has officially introduced a National Textbook Ranking System for primary, junior, and senior secondary schools. Announced by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, the initiative is designed to curb the proliferation of substandard learning materials and ensure that only the highest quality, curriculum-compliant books are used in classrooms nationwide.
Under the new policy, the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) will maintain its statutory role of licensing textbooks but will now subject all materials to a rigorous, structured ranking process. Standing Subject Committees, composed of academic and pedagogical experts, will evaluate books based on strict standards. Only a limited number of the top-ranked textbooks for each subject will be approved for use, a move intended to reduce confusion for teachers, students, and parents caused by the current excess of titles in circulation.
A critical component of this reform is the “No Rank, No Entry” rule: any textbook not included in the official ranking will be prohibited from schools, regardless of whether it held prior licensing. Furthermore, ranked books are expected to remain in use for a minimum of three years, a measure aimed at easing the financial burden on families by slowing the cycle of mandatory book replacements.
The Federal Ministry of Education confirmed that implementation is set to begin with the September 2026 academic session. In the coming months, the government will engage with publishers, teachers, and other stakeholders to finalize the evaluation framework and ensure a smooth transition to the standardized system.
