OPEN LETTER TO THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA ON THE RECENT REVERSAL OF THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE POLICY AND THE CLAIM THAT MOTHER-TONGUE INSTRUCTION “DESTROYED EDUCATION”
Dear Honourable Minister,
I write with deep respect and a
sense of responsibility as Professor John Tyavbee Ajai of Taraba State
University, Jalingo. My decision to write follows your remarks at the 2025
Language in Education International Conference in Abuja, where you announced
that English will now serve as the sole medium of instruction from pre-primary
to tertiary levels. In several press reports, you also stated that the 2022
National Language Policy “failed” and that WAEC, NECO, and JAMB failures are
concentrated in regions that “oversubscribed” the mother-tongue approach. You
went further to say that the use of indigenous languages in classrooms “has
literally destroyed education” in some parts of the country.
Honourable Minister, these are
far-reaching claims that deserve serious, evidence-based discussion. You
invited scholars and stakeholders who possess contrary evidence to present
verifiable data. In that spirit, and as someone who has devoted his career to
researching mathematics education in Nigerian classrooms, I would like to offer
this response in good faith and in the interest of constructive, research-led
engagement.
1. Indigenous-Language
Instruction does not cause Examination Failure
The persistent underperformance
in WAEC, NECO, and JAMB examinations cannot logically be attributed to the use
of indigenous languages. Instead, it emerges from long-standing systemic
weaknesses that have hindered learning for years. Nigeria’s education sector
has suffered from chronic underfunding, leaving many schools without the
required resources for effective teaching and learning. Teacher welfare has
been routinely neglected, with delayed salaries, unpaid allowances, and
stagnant promotions negatively impacting morale and productivity. Unresolved
disputes with ASUU continue to reflect underlying dissatisfaction with
infrastructure, research support, and policy responsiveness. Overcrowded
classrooms, declining facilities, shortages of learning materials, and weak
teacher preparation, especially at foundational levels, further compromise
learning. Added to these are socio-economic pressures, insecurity, and
irregular attendance, which disrupt schooling across many regions. These
structural deficiencies, not the use of indigenous languages, are responsible
for students’ struggles in national examinations.
2. The statement that
indigenous languages “Destroyed Education” is not evidence-based
Global research does not support
the idea that mother-tongue instruction undermines learning. Instead,
international bodies and decades of scholarship consistently affirm that
children learn best when taught in a language they understand. UNESCO has long
championed mother-tongue instruction as the strongest foundation for early
comprehension, literacy, and numeracy. The World Bank’s policy synthesis Loud
and Clear similarly demonstrates that learners acquire skills more effectively
when instruction begins in their familiar language. Africa’s leading
quasi-experimental study in this area, the RISE Ethiopia study, shows that
pupils who start schooling in their mother tongue and transition later to
English perform significantly better in mathematics than those taught solely in
English from the beginning. Cognitive science supports these findings:
higher-order reasoning can only occur when learners fully grasp the language in
which concepts are presented.
3. Nigeria’s own research
supports bilingual instruction
Since your call for verifiable
Nigerian evidence was explicit, I offer a peer-reviewed study conducted under
my supervision and published in an academic journal. The study examined the
effect of bilingual English–Hausa instruction on students’ achievement in
algebra (Ajai, J.T., Iyekekpolor, S.A.O., & Hanawa, H.R., 2022). Effect of
Eng–Hau Medium of Instruction on Upper-Basic Students’ Achievement in Algebra.
Journal of Science and Education, 3(1), 100–110.
https://doi.org/10.56003/jse.v3i1.144.
The findings showed clearly that
students taught through a combination of English and Hausa significantly
outperformed those taught only in English. Bilingual instruction enhanced
conceptual clarity, improved problem-solving skills, reduced common mathematical
errors, and generated greater engagement among learners. This is verifiable,
peer-reviewed Nigerian evidence, and it directly contradicts the claim that
indigenous languages weaken educational quality. Research from Ekiti, Benue,
Kaduna, Kano, and other states has reinforced the same conclusion, particularly
in foundational mathematics.
4. Leading nations use their
indigenous languages and excel
The belief that English-medium
instruction guarantees educational success is contradicted by the experience of
the world’s most successful education systems. Countries with strong learning
outcomes overwhelmingly rely on their own languages for instruction. China
teaches mathematics and science in Mandarin and consistently leads global STEM
indicators. Finland, a world leader in educational performance, teaches in
Finnish, Swedish, and Sámi. Japan and South Korea rely exclusively on their
indigenous languages across all levels of schooling, while New Zealand has
revitalised Māori-medium programmes with positive results. Nations across
Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, including Tanzania, Ethiopia, South
Africa, India, Norway, Sweden, Brazil, and Mexico, use indigenous languages
widely in early schooling. The evidence is consistent: comprehension, not the
prestige of the English language, drives effective learning.
5. The real crisis is systemic
neglect, not language
Nigeria’s educational challenges
do not stem from the choice of instructional language. They originate from
systemic neglect that has accumulated over several decades. Insufficient
funding, weak teacher preparation, poor teacher welfare, unresolved industrial
disputes, inadequate materials, deteriorating infrastructure, and limited
classroom support all contribute to the current crisis. Without addressing
these underlying issues, a shift to English-only instruction cannot improve
learning outcomes. Instead, it risks diverting attention from the areas that
truly need reform.
6. A Call for Evidence-Based
Dialogue
In response to your invitation
for scholars to present verifiable evidence, I am pleased to offer this letter
as a sincere contribution to informed, data-driven policy discourse. The
overwhelming body of research, both global and Nigerian, affirms that a
structured bilingual model is far more effective than an English-only approach.
An exclusive reliance on English is likely to widen learning gaps, deepen
inequality, and place teachers under further strain. I stand ready to present
these findings formally to the Ministry, the National Council on Education, or
anybody committed to evidence-based policymaking. Nigeria’s educational future
depends on decisions grounded not in assumptions or fear, but in rigorous,
verifiable data.
Yours sincerely,
Professor John Tyavbee Ajai,
Professor of Mathematics
Education
Taraba State
University, Jalingo, Nigeria
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