Parents and education stakeholders have called for the enforcement of reusable textbook policies in private schools in Lagos State to reduce education costs and ease families’ financial burden.
They made the appeal in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at private schools in the Oworonshoki area of Lagos ahead of the midterm break on Friday.
The stakeholders expressed concern that younger children were often unable to reuse textbooks previously purchased for their older siblings, forcing parents to spend repeatedly on similar learning materials.
NAN reports that the Federal Government announced a reusable textbook policy in January to reduce education costs, improve learning quality and promote sustainability.
The policy provides for standardised textbooks to remain in use for between four and six years.
A parent and nurse, Mrs Edith Akpobaro, said she spent N54,000 on textbooks for her child in Primary Two and N57,000 for another in Primary Four.
She added that textbooks for her child in Junior Secondary Two cost more than N70,000.
Akpobaro lamented that textbooks previously passed from older children to younger siblings were now difficult to reuse.
“In our own days, when I used a textbook, I could pass it on to my younger siblings. But these days, the situation is not the same. You buy the same textbook every year, over and over again,” she said.
Another parent, Mrs Maria Otolorin, said the practice had increased financial pressure on families, especially those with several children in school.
She, however, acknowledged that textbooks containing exercises and spaces for pupils to write answers had educational benefits, as they reduced the need to copy questions into separate exercise books.
Otolorin urged publishers and schools to develop alternatives that would preserve these benefits while allowing younger siblings to reuse textbooks.
Similarly, Mrs Ayo Oluwatoyin, a teacher and parent, said she spent almost N100,000 on textbooks for one of her children, sometimes exceeding the cost of school fees.
She said several textbooks bought for her older children had been abandoned because younger siblings could not use them after they were written in and marked.
“The economy is not smiling at anybody. Some parents are even selecting books because they cannot afford all the textbooks required by the schools,” she said.
Oluwatoyin called on the Lagos State Ministry of Education to engage publishers and other stakeholders to promote continuity in textbook use and eliminate unnecessary expenses for parents.
Another parent, Mr Chikeze Njoku, a bakery consultant, described the situation as unfair, recalling that younger children were previously allowed to use textbooks purchased for their older siblings.
He urged the government to intervene, particularly in private schools, to encourage textbook reuse and reduce financial pressure on families.
A parent and teacher, Mr Amoye Segun, attributed the challenge partly to publishers producing textbooks alongside workbooks that require pupils to write answers directly into them.
According to him, such arrangements make it difficult for younger siblings to reuse the materials, forcing parents to purchase another complete set.
Segun supported the Federal Government’s reusable textbook policy, saying textbooks should be designed to last between three and four years to enable other children to use them.
Another parent, Mrs Franca Nwogu, proposed that private schools introduce textbook rental schemes, allowing pupils to use books for a specified period before returning them for other learners.
Reacting to the concerns, the National President of the Association of Early Childhood and Basic Education Instructors in Nigeria, Dr Simeon Fowowe, said repeated textbook purchases remained a major challenge for Nigerian families.
Fowowe told NAN on Monday that textbooks should be regarded as long-term educational investments rather than compulsory annual expenses, particularly where curriculum content had not changed significantly.
He said the Federal Government announced the reusable textbook policy on Jan. 9, 2026, providing for durable textbooks expected to last between four and six years and allowing siblings to share learning materials.
According to him, effective implementation remained the major challenge, particularly in private schools, requiring clear monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.
Fowowe also called for the regulation of textbook revisions to prevent schools from compelling parents to purchase new editions annually when changes involved only page numbering, colours, illustrations or covers.
He recommended community-based textbook lending schemes involving schools, Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), non-governmental organisations and philanthropists to improve access to learning materials.
On the role of publishers, Fowowe urged them to produce textbooks with quality paper, strong covers and durable binding to withstand repeated use by different children.
He also recommended separating exercise books and materials requiring pupils to write directly into them from core textbooks.
The education expert further called on publishers to introduce affordable pricing, family discounts and textbook take-back programmes.
He said publishers could also provide supplementary digital learning materials, including audio resources, interactive exercises and teachers’ guides, without making new textbook purchases compulsory.
Fowowe stressed that the ultimate purpose of education should be learning rather than repeated purchases of educational materials.
He added that no child should be disadvantaged because their parents could not afford new textbooks every academic session.
