The Fafunwa Educational Foundation (FEF) has strongly criticized the Federal Government's recent decision to scrap the policy promoting the use of mother tongues for teaching in early basic education. The foundation labeled the move as hasty and not supported by decades of educational research.
Government Cites Poor Exam Results for Policy Reversal
On 25 December 2025, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced the reversal. He linked the decision to declining academic performance in regions that had adopted the mother tongue instruction model. The minister specifically pointed to results from major examination bodies, including the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the National Examinations Council (NECO), and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Foundation and Experts Counter Government's Claim
The FEF firmly rejected the government's rationale. It argued that a wealth of international and local evidence contradicts the claim that learning in one's first language hinders academic success. Children learn most effectively in the language they understand naturally, the foundation stated.
It referenced specific research, noting that pupils taught in Yoruba demonstrated superior skills in literacy, numeracy, and comprehension compared to their peers taught in English from the start. Crucially, these students later outperformed the others in external examinations, even in English language tests.
This view is bolstered by studies from scholars like Professor Babatunde Ipaye and successful global examples from nations such as Japan, China, Spain, Portugal, and Israel. Furthermore, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) consistently affirms that mother tongue instruction leads to significantly higher reading comprehension by the end of primary and lower secondary school.
Implementation Challenges, Not Policy Flaws
The FEF attributed the perceived failure of the policy to severe shortcomings in its execution, rather than a flaw in the concept itself. Key implementation failures identified include:
- Inadequate funding for program rollout.
- Insufficient training for teachers to deliver curriculum in local languages.
- A critical lack of appropriate instructional materials in various mother tongues.
The foundation's position is clear: the government is addressing the symptom by abandoning a proven educational strategy, instead of fixing the well-documented implementation gaps that undermined it.
