The Federal Government has inaugurated a Book Ranking and Selection Committee and announced a new policy to limit the number of approved textbooks per subject.
The initiative is part of efforts to improve the quality of instructional materials and reduce the financial burden on parents and guardians across the country.
Speaking at the inauguration on Monday in Abuja, Tunji Alausa, Minister of Education, said the existing system failed to properly validate and rank textbooks before approval, resulting in some subjects having as many as 50 approved books without clear quality benchmarks.
He said the absence of a structured ranking system meant that low-quality instructional materials were approved alongside books of higher pedagogical value.
The minister also faulted publishers for bundling workbooks and consumables with core textbooks, a practice he said forced parents to buy new books yearly and placed unnecessary financial pressure on families.
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According to him, the new committee will introduce reforms to cap the number of approved textbooks per subject, ensure transparent and objective ranking, and protect learners and parents from exploitative practices.
“Your assignment is both timely and strategic. You are expected to critically review existing approval frameworks, recommend strengthened assessment instruments and ranking systems, define clear and enforceable quality benchmarks, and propose mechanisms that ensure genuine content improvement before new editions are approved.
“You are also expected to address issues of pricing transparency, edition control, separation of textbooks from consumable workbooks, and protection of learners and parents from unnecessary financial burdens,” he said
He added that although regulatory agencies could approve more books, only seven textbooks per subject would be officially ranked for selection by schools, particularly under the Universal Basic Education Commission framework.
Alausa said once ranked, textbooks would remain in use for a minimum of three years, except where major curriculum or technological changes required updates.
He urged the committee to address issues of pricing transparency, edition control, and the separation of durable textbooks from consumable materials, and called on the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council to publicise the reforms to reassure parents.
The committee will be chaired by Suwaiba Ahmad, Minister of State for Education, with members drawn from key education agencies, including NERDC, UBEC, the National Teachers’ Institute, and the National Senior Secondary Education Commission.
In her remarks, Ahmad pledged the committee’s commitment to reforming the textbook approval process to ensure learners have access to high-quality materials.
“As long as a textbook meets the minimum standard, it is approved, without any benchmark to determine whether it is of grade A, B or C quality,” she said.
