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<p class="has-medium-font-size">Recently, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, introduced a new policy that bans disposable workbooks and restricts graduation ceremonies, claiming it will ease the financial burden on parents. But the real question remains: which parents will actually benefit from this policy, and how much of the heavy cost of education does it truly reduce?</p>
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<p class="has-medium-font-size">According to data from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC, 2022), Nigeria has about 47 million pupils enrolled in basic education. Of this number, roughly 71% attend public schools, 29% are in private schools, and less than 1% are enrolled in federal unity schools. Let us examine each category in turn.</p>
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<p class="has-medium-font-size">To the best of my understanding, parents are under no obligation to purchase textbooks or workbooks for their children in basic public schools. Indeed, it is unacceptable that any child should be denied access to education because of textbooks or other school-related charges. If 71% of parents are already exempt from buying books for their wards, then one must ask: who exactly is the minister claiming to fight for?</p>
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<p class="has-medium-font-size">Private schools operate as private businesses, and the minister has no authority to regulate how they sell textbooks. The answer to whether he can intervene is an emphatic “No.” This means that the 29% of parents who send their children to private schools gain no relief from his policies. So, one must ask: if these parents cannot be helped, who exactly is the minister fighting for?</p>
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<p class="has-medium-font-size">Less than one percent of Nigeria’s students are enrolled in federal government unity schools—the very institutions under the minister’s direct jurisdiction. This means that, out of about 47 million learners nationwide, the minister’s cost‑reduction policies would affect only around 470,000 students. How does focusing on such a small fraction make any real sense in addressing the broader burden of education costs on parents?</p>
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<p class="has-medium-font-size">In his continued effort to reduce the financial burden of education on parents, the minister announced that graduation ceremonies will now be limited to pupils completing Primary 6, Junior Secondary School 3 (JSS 3), and Senior Secondary School 3 (SS 3). According to him, only these groups are permitted to hold graduation ceremonies. As our people would say, <em>“before nko”</em>—meaning, how was it done before now?</p>
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<p class="has-medium-font-size">Now let us compare the supposed “relief” from regulating graduation ceremonies with the reality of textbook use. According to the new policy, the approved textbooks henceforth, are to be used for four to six years before a revised edition is permitted. Consider a parent responsible for about twelve children and dependents. If each of these wards must graduate across the three levels of schooling within the next four years, that parent will continue to face heavy educational expenses. In such a situation, can we truly say the minister’s policies have eased the parent’s burden?</p>
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<p class="has-medium-font-size">We should also remember that this same minister, during school resumption, announced the introduction of a new curriculum alongside a plan to digitize learning by providing free laptops and iPads loaded with e‑learning materials to over 47 million pupils and students across Nigeria. The initiative was presented as a complete replacement for hardcopy textbooks, aimed at easing the financial burden on parents. Yet today, that grand announcement appears abandoned, as the minister now focuses instead on separating textbooks from disposable workbooks.</p>
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<p class="has-medium-font-size">In conclusion, the so‑called banning of textbooks and regulation of graduation ceremonies, presented as measures to ease the financial burden on parents, amount to nothing more than an illusion—much like the earlier grand but unfulfilled promise of digitizing schools. Why then should an Education Minister play politics with the lives of already impoverished and struggling Nigerians?</p>
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