FG Drops Mother Tongue Policy, Adopts English As Sole Language of Instruction

The Federal Government has officially scrapped the national policy mandating the use of indigenous languages as the medium of instruction in schools, declaring English as the sole language of teaching across all levels of education.

Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced the decision yesterday at the 2025 Language in Education International Conference organised by the British Council in Abuja.

The move marks a reversal of the 2022 National Language Policy, which required that pupils from Early Childhood Care Education to Primary Six be taught in their mother tongue or the language of their immediate community.

According to Alausa, extensive data analysis showed that the implementation of the mother tongue policy had adversely affected pupils’ learning outcomes, especially in national examinations such as WAEC, NECO, and JAMB.

“We have seen a mass failure rate in certain geopolitical zones where the policy was aggressively adopted,” Alausa said. “This is about evidence-based governance. English now stands as the language of instruction from pre-primary through tertiary education.”

The minister maintained that the previous policy, though well-intentioned, had “literally destroyed education in some regions,” insisting that the decision was guided by verifiable evidence, not sentiment.

He said data gathered from schools nationwide revealed that students taught mainly in local languages struggled with basic English comprehension and recorded higher failure rates in public exams.

“The National Language Policy has been cancelled. English is now the medium of instruction across all levels of education,” he declared.

Alausa urged critics of the new directive to present credible data to support their arguments, noting that the government remains open to evidence-based dialogue on improving learning outcomes.

Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmed, disclosed that the government has developed a new training package for teachers to strengthen literacy and numeracy at the foundational level.

“We are focusing on equipping teachers at the early childhood and lower primary levels with modern techniques for teaching literacy and numeracy effectively,” she said.

Also speaking, the British Council Country Director, Donna McGowan, reaffirmed the Council’s commitment to supporting Nigeria’s education reforms through teacher training, leadership development, and language proficiency programmes.

> “We are proud to continue our partnership with the Ministry of Education to advance quality learning outcomes across Nigeria,” McGowan said.