The future of education is not built on rankings; it is built on quality, fairness, credibility, and trust.
Few decisions in the education sector carry as much weight as the selection of textbooks that millions of Nigerian pupils and students will use in classrooms every academic session. These books shape learning outcomes, influence teaching standards, and ultimately contribute to the quality of education across the country.
It is therefore understandable that the recent proposal by the Federal Government to introduce a ranking policy for approved textbooks has generated widespread debate among education stakeholders. At the forefront of this conversation is the Nigerian Publishers Association (NPA), which has expressed serious reservations about replacing the current textbook evaluation framework with a ranking system.
Rather than opposing reform, the Association is making a compelling case for improving what already exists.
A System That Has Served the Industry
For many years, the textbook evaluation process coordinated by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) has provided a structured mechanism for assessing educational materials submitted by publishers.
Although no evaluation system is perfect, the existing framework has generally been regarded as transparent, objective, and professionally driven. Publishers, whether large, medium, or emerging, are subjected to the same assessment criteria, ensuring that every submission is evaluated on merit rather than market influence.
This level playing field has encouraged healthy competition, inspired continuous improvement in educational publishing, and motivated publishers to invest heavily in quality authorship, editing, design, illustration, curriculum alignment, and production standards.
It is a system that rewards excellence through compliance with established educational benchmarks, not through comparative positioning against competing publishers.
Improvement Should Not Mean Replacement
One of the strongest arguments advanced by the NPA is both practical and forward-looking: if weaknesses exist within the current evaluation process, then those weaknesses should be addressed directly.
Every system evolves.
Assessment procedures can become more efficient. Review timelines can be shortened. Digital submission platforms can be introduced. Evaluation panels can receive additional training. Feedback mechanisms can become more transparent. Monitoring can become even more robust.
These are reforms that strengthen confidence without dismantling the integrity of an already established process.
Replacing the existing framework with a ranking model, however, introduces an entirely different philosophy, one that shifts attention from meeting quality standards to competing for numerical positions.
Education should never become a contest where learning resources are judged primarily by who comes first.
The Risk of Ranking Educational Resources
Unlike consumer products, textbooks are not luxury brands competing for market share based solely on popularity.
Every textbook that successfully passes NERDC’s rigorous evaluation process has already demonstrated compliance with curriculum requirements and educational standards. The purpose of evaluation is to determine suitability, not superiority.
Introducing rankings could unintentionally create perceptions that lower-ranked approved books are somehow inferior, even when they fully satisfy all curriculum requirements.
Such perceptions may influence procurement decisions, distort market competition, discourage innovation, and gradually concentrate opportunities among only a few dominant publishers.
For smaller publishing houses that consistently produce high-quality educational materials, this could become a significant commercial disadvantage despite meeting all prescribed standards.
Ultimately, diversity in educational publishing benefits learners, teachers, and the nation.
Quality Is a Collective Responsibility
The Nigerian publishing industry has invested decades in developing local educational content that reflects Nigerian realities, cultures, languages, and curriculum objectives.
Publishers invest substantial resources in research, manuscript development, peer review, editing, graphic design, printing, copyright acquisition, and curriculum compliance long before a textbook reaches the evaluation stage.
These investments deserve an assessment process that remains impartial, transparent, and focused on quality assurance rather than competitive ranking.
If the objective is to improve educational outcomes, then strengthening evaluation standards offers greater long-term value than introducing league tables.
Building Confidence Through Continuous Improvement
Constructive reform should focus on enhancing credibility.
Stakeholders have suggested several practical measures that could further strengthen the existing evaluation framework, including:
- Modernizing the evaluation process through digital platforms.
- Increasing transparency in assessment reports and feedback.
- Expanding the pool of independent subject experts.
- Providing clearer evaluation criteria for publishers.
- Establishing regular review mechanisms to reflect curriculum updates.
- Improving turnaround times without compromising quality.
These improvements preserve the strengths of the current system while addressing areas that genuinely require enhancement.
A Shared Goal: Better Learning for Every Nigerian Child
At the heart of this conversation lies a common objective shared by government, publishers, educators, authors, parents, and school administrators: providing Nigerian learners with the highest-quality educational resources possible.
That goal is best achieved through collaboration, consultation, and continuous improvement, not by replacing a proven evaluation system with one that may inadvertently create unnecessary divisions within the educational publishing ecosystem.
The NPA’s position is therefore not simply about protecting publishers’ interests. It is about preserving a fair and credible assessment process that has encouraged quality publishing while ensuring equal opportunities for all participants.
As Nigeria continues to reform its education sector, every policy should ultimately answer one important question:
Will this improve learning outcomes for Nigerian children?
If strengthening the existing evaluation framework can achieve that objective more effectively than introducing rankings, then perhaps the wiser path is not to replace the system—but to make it even better.
Because in education, lasting excellence is built through stronger standards, not stronger competition.
