By Ajibola Olaide, JKNewsMedia Reporter
TEXTBOOK ASSESSMENT and ranking fees have been reduced by the Federal Government ahead of the implementation of the National Textbook Ranking System (NTRS).
JKNewsMedia.com reports that the review was announced in a statement personally signed by the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Salisu Shehu, and made available to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.
The Council stated that the assessment fee had been reduced from N2,000 to N1,500 per page, while the fee for ranking textbooks had been cut from N1 million to N750,000 per title.
It said publishers and authors submitting textbooks for assessment should make payments based on the revised rates with immediate effect.
NERDC also stated that publishers who had already paid the previous assessment fee of N2,000 per page would receive refunds of the excess payment.
It added that the procedure for processing the refunds would be announced soon.
The Council urged all stakeholders in the book industry to comply with the new directive.
The review comes ahead of the commencement of the Federal Government’s National Textbook Ranking System (FGNTRS), an initiative introduced by the Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Alausa, to standardise learning materials used in Nigerian schools.
JKNewsMedia.com also reports that then under the policy, which takes effect from September 2026, only textbooks assessed, approved and ranked by NERDC will be permitted for use in classrooms, while unranked textbooks will be prohibited.
The minister stated that the initiative was designed to address the proliferation of textbooks in schools and ensure that learners and teachers had access only to high quality, curriculum compliant instructional materials.
He also stated that NERDC would continue to exercise its statutory responsibility of approving textbooks for use in Nigerian schools, but approval alone would no longer be sufficient.
Under the new policy, approved textbooks will undergo a structured national evaluation and ranking process by expert committees to identify the most suitable and highest quality books for each subject and level of education.
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