By Huldah Shado
The Federal Government has scrapped its 2022 National Language Policy, which mandated the use of mother tongue as the medium of instruction from early childhood to Primary Six, replacing it with English for all levels of education.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced the reversal on Wednesday in Abuja at the opening of the Language in Education International Conference 2025, organised by the British Council.
Alausa said the decision followed data-driven research showing that teaching in local languages had negatively impacted pupils’ performance in national examinations.
“The National Policy on Language has been cancelled. English is now the language of instruction in our schools, from primary to tertiary levels,” he said.
He added that Nigeria’s linguistic diversity made implementation of the old policy impractical.
“In some regions, the mother tongue differs from what teachers speak. This has led to confusion and poor learning outcomes,” he noted.
According to him, the new directive aims to restore uniformity and improve literacy, comprehension, and examination performance nationwide.