“As Low as 25%”: FG Sets New Quality Benchmark for Textbooks

A textbook can sit quietly on a classroom desk and still shape the future of a child.

That is why Nigeria’s decision to introduce a tougher national textbook ranking system deserves attention.

The Federal Government has approved a 70 per cent minimum score for textbooks seeking national approval for use in public schools.

The policy comes under the National Textbook Ranking System, which is designed to assess books against academic, pedagogical, technical and quality standards.

Recent reports have highlighted books that performed poorly under the new assessment process, with some scoring as low as 25 per cent.

That figure should make Nigerians pause.If a textbook is meant to teach children, what does it say about an education system when a book can be offered to learners despite serious quality weaknesses?

What the New System Changes

Previously, NERDC licensing was a key part of textbook approval.

Under the new system, licensing alone will no longer be enough.

A textbook must also pass the national evaluation and ranking process.

It must reach the 70 per cent benchmark and meet other quality requirements before it can be approved for use in public schools.

The government also plans to limit the number of approved titles per subject to between six and ten, depending on curriculum requirements.

The intention is clear.Reduce the number of poor-quality textbooks.

Make textbook selection more rigorous.

Give schools a smaller pool of books that have actually met national standards.

Why This Matters

Education is cumulative. A student who misunderstands a concept in primary school can carry that misunderstanding into secondary school.

A poorly written textbook can make a difficult subject even harder.

An outdated textbook can teach yesterday’s information to today’s children.

And a badly edited book can create confusion where clarity is needed.

So the textbook is not a minor part of education.

It is part of the teacher’s toolkit.

The 70 per cent threshold could therefore improve the quality of what reaches Nigerian classrooms.

But there is another side.

The government must make the assessment process transparent.

Publishers need to know how books are scored.

Authors need confidence that evaluation is based on quality rather than connections.

Teachers and schools should also have a voice in determining whether a book works in real classrooms.

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Standards Must Not Become Another Barrier

There is also the question of cost.

A rigorous assessment system can improve quality.

But if the cost of approval becomes too high, smaller Nigerian publishers and authors could struggle to compete.

That would be counterproductive.

Nigeria needs high standards without creating a publishing system that only the biggest companies can enter.

The government says assessment and ranking fees have already been reduced, including a reduction in the assessment fee from ₦2,000 to ₦1,500 per page and the ranking fee from ₦1 million to ₦750,000 per title.

The policy should therefore be judged by what eventually happens in classrooms.

Do students receive better books?

Do teachers find them more useful?

Do examination outcomes improve?

Do publishers produce stronger materials?

Those are the real tests.

A textbook is not merely paper and ink.

For a child, it can become the voice of authority.

That voice must be accurate.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the Federal Government has introduced a 70 per cent minimum benchmark for nationally approved textbooks under its new ranking system.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the policy could improve classroom materials, but its credibility will depend on transparent assessment and how effectively the standards are enforced.