The Federal Ministry of Education has released its final approved textbooks list for 2026 to 2028, and the first phase covers Primary 1, Primary 4, JSS 1 and SS 1. Every title on the list now carries a unique Ranking/QR Tracking Code, which the ministry says will help it identify, monitor and track the books that end up in Nigerian classrooms.
The statement was signed by the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Boriowo Folasade, and says the exercise was carried out under the Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, and the Minister of State for Education, Prof Suwaiba Sa’id Ahmad. If you have a child entering any of those four classes this session, this is the list the school is now expected to buy from, so it’s worth checking before you pay for anything on the booklist.
Only four classes are on the approved textbooks list for now
The ministry is rolling the ranking out in phases. Phase one covers Primary 1, Primary 4, JSS 1 and SS 1, which are the entry points into lower primary, upper primary, junior secondary and senior secondary. The ministry says the second phase will cover Primary 2, Primary 5, JSS 2 and SS 2, with the same ranking and tracking measures applied, but it hasn’t given a date for it yet.
That means parents with children in the other classes won’t find their books on a ranked list this term. Your school’s existing booklist still applies for those classes until the ministry publishes the next phase.
Each approved title carries a unique Ranking/QR Tracking Code, alongside key details including the title, author(s), publisher and year of publication.
What the QR code on each book is really there to do
Each entry on the list pairs its code with the title, the author or authors, the publisher and the year of publication. That gives you a way to match the book your school asks for against the official entry, right down to the edition year, which matters when several editions of the same title are on sale at the same time. The ministry hasn’t announced a public app or short code for scanning the codes, so for now the practical check is a straight comparison of the details printed on the book with the details on the list.
The ministry told publishers, schools, education authorities and procurement agencies to consult the official approved list before selecting or procuring textbooks for the affected classes. It shared the full list through a designated link on its official channels, so get it from the ministry’s own accounts rather than from a PDF forwarded on WhatsApp, which may be an older draft.
Check first
- Your child's class is in phase onePrimary 1, Primary 4, JSS 1 or SS 1. Other classes are not on the ranked list yet.
On the book
- Title and author match the listCompare the cover and title page with the entry on the ministry's list.
- Publisher and year of publication matchA different year can mean a different edition from the one that was ranked.
On the list
- The entry has a Ranking/QR Tracking CodeEvery approved title on the list carries one.
On the booklist
- No compulsory disposable workbookThe reusable textbook policy bars schools from bundling disposable workbooks with textbooks.
Why the list builds on January’s reusable textbook policy
The ranked list is the next step in the reusable textbook policy the ministry announced on 9 January 2026. Under that policy, approved textbooks are meant to be durable enough to be used for four to six years, schools can’t bundle disposable workbooks with them, and revisions have to reflect substantive improvements in content rather than cosmetic changes. The policy also limits how many approved textbooks can exist for each subject and class.
The ministers said at the time that the initiative “allows siblings to share textbooks, significantly lowers recurring education costs for parents, and reduces waste within the school system”. For you, the practical effect is that a ranked book bought for an older child this session should still be usable by a younger sibling in the same class in later years, as long as the school sticks to the ranked edition.
Publishers are still fighting the ranking in court
The list arrives while a suit by the Nigerian Publishers Association is still before the Federal High Court in Ibadan. The association filed the case in August 2026, asking the court to declare that the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) can’t impose compulsory ranking on textbooks it had already approved, and that the ranking fee attached to the exercise is unlawful. Its Executive Secretary, Rotimi Iyiola, said the association remained “willing to work towards a textbook approval system that is lawful, transparent and beneficial”, provided it operates within the limits of the law.
No ruling has been reported in the case, so the ministry’s list is the one schools are being told to follow for now. If the court rules against the ranking later, the ministry would have to say how that affects the list, and parents should wait for an official statement rather than act on rumours.
What to do before you pay for this term’s books
If your child is starting Primary 1, Primary 4, JSS 1 or SS 1, ask the school which titles on its booklist come from the ranked list, then check each one against the ministry’s entries before you buy. Families with children who have just resumed JSS 1 in the Federal Unity Colleges are among the first affected, since those schools fall directly under the Federal Ministry of Education.
If a school insists on a title for one of these classes that you can’t find on the list, raise it through the PTA or ask the school for the book’s entry on the ranked list in writing. Don’t throw out an older sibling’s books for the other classes yet either, because those classes haven’t been ranked and the ministry hasn’t told schools to change their books for them.
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