{"id":18602,"date":"2025-11-16T17:22:55","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T17:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/?p=18602"},"modified":"2025-11-16T17:22:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T17:22:55","slug":"nigeria-dumps-mother-tongue-education-just-as-ghana-embraces-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/18602\/nigeria-dumps-mother-tongue-education-just-as-ghana-embraces-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria dumps mother-tongue education – just as Ghana embraces it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa\u2019s latest education divide isn\u2019t about budgets, access or even digital transformation, intrestingly, it\u2019s about language, and two West African giants now sit on opposite sides of the debate.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday November 12, Nigeria announced the reversal of its mother-tongue policy and reverted fully to English-only instruction from pre-primary through secondary school, a move the Education Minister defended as\u00a0\u201cevidence-based.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, just across the border, Ghana is enforcing the opposite direction: compulsory mother-tongue instruction from Kindergarten to Primary 3, before gradually transitioning to English.<\/p>\n

So who is right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A new\u00a02025 UNESCO\/AU\/UNICEF report, Transforming Learning and Skills Development in Africa, offers surprising insights, and some uncomfortable truths.<\/p>\n

According to the UNESCO\u2019s report,\u00a0\u201c… an estimated four out of every five 10-year-olds in Africa cannot read or comprehend a simple text.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some educationists say this is not an English problem. It\u2019s a foundational learning problem. Global evidence shows that children learn to read faster and better when taught in the language they speak at home. UNESCO reinforces this when it stresses that:\u00a0\u201cThe language of instruction remains a significant barrier to equity in education\u2026 highlighting the need for learning materials in indigenous and local languages.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Ghana, policymakers have taken a cue from this. Their KG\u2013P3 policy follows what researchers and UNESCO have recommended for decades: start in the language children understand, build literacy, then transition smoothly to English.<\/p>\n

In Nigeria, however, policymakers read the results, especially poor exam performance, and blamed the experiment. But is this a policy problem, or an implementation problem?<\/p>\n

Nigeria\u2019s U-Turn: A Policy Failure or an Implementation Failure?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nigeria\u2019s Education Minister insists the mother-tongue initiative hurt learning outcomes, calling it\u00a0\u201cdestructive\u201d\u00a0to foundational education. However, UNESCO cautions strongly against this kind of conclusion. The report states:\u00a0\u201cPoor learning outcomes are often caused by weak implementation systems , not the underlying policy direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

If textbooks, teacher training, and materials in local languages were insufficient, the policy was never given a fair chance. Local media has in the past reported that Nigeria struggles with: extreme linguistic diversity, severe teacher shortages, weak textbook distribution and funding inconsistencies.<\/p>\n

Ghana\u2019s Approach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ghana did not leap into full mother-tongue education from KG to Primary 6 like Nigeria\u2019s original model. It chose a measured approach:<\/p>\n