Education Advocate Urges Federal Government to Adopt ‘Hello Phonics’ Model to Tackle Nigeria’s Literacy Crisis
An education advocate, Taiwo A. Adekanye, has called on the Federal Government to adopt the Hello Phonics reading model as a nationwide intervention to address widespread literacy challenges in Nigerian primary and secondary schools and reduce the growing number of out-of-school children.
In an open letter dated January 14, 2026, and addressed to the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, Adekanye warned that Nigeria’s ambition for sustainable development and strong local content would remain elusive unless foundational problems in literacy are urgently addressed.
According to her, illiteracy, particularly poor reading skills among school-aged children, has continued to undermine learning outcomes across the country and has contributed significantly to school dropouts and the persistence of out-of-school children.
“As a nation, Nigeria cannot build a sustainable future without first fixing the basic problem of reading,” Adekanye stated. “The inability of many pupils and students to read effectively has become a silent crisis in our education system.”
To confront this challenge, she proposed the nationwide deployment of the Hello Phonics Model, an innovative reading approach she said has already been tested, approved, and shown to deliver rapid results. She explained that the model was developed in response to Nigeria’s literacy deficits and has been presented to the Federal Ministry of Education at different stages since 2019.
The Hello Phonics Model, she noted, received formal approval from the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) on August 8, 2020, and was recommended for use as a textbook, giving it statutory backing as an approved instructional resource.
Unlike conventional reading textbooks, Adekanye described Hello Phonics as a comprehensive reading model designed to simplify how children and adults learn to read. One of its defining features, she said, is its use of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to teach reading not only in English but also in Nigerian languages in their simplest and most accessible forms.
She added that the model promotes cultural reconnection by integrating indigenous language structures into reading instruction, making learning more relatable and effective for Nigerian learners.
“The strength of Hello Phonics lies in its simplicity and speed,” she explained. “It adopts a vertical reading approach, where consonants are held constant while learners master phonetic variations. This method enables learners to grasp reading patterns quickly.”
According to Adekanye, trials of the model have shown that pupils with reading difficulties can achieve fluency in less than one month. She said the model has also been designed to help Nigerian learners meet internationally competitive reading standards, positioning them favourably in a global knowledge economy.
Beyond children in formal schools, Adekanye emphasised that Hello Phonics is suitable for a wide range of literacy interventions, including girl-child education programmes, adult literacy initiatives, mass literacy campaigns, and targeted strategies for reintegrating out-of-school children into learning.
She recalled that the concept behind the Hello Phonics Model was formally introduced at the inauguration of the Presidential Steering Committee on Alternative School Programmes on January 26, 2021. The committee was set up to develop strategies for addressing Nigeria’s out-of-school children crisis, which remains one of the largest in the world.
While acknowledging recent policy efforts, including the Nigerian Senate’s resolution in October 2024 to organise a national summit on out-of-school children, Adekanye argued that Nigeria already has a practical and tested solution that can be deployed immediately.
“While summits and discussions are important, the country urgently needs implementation,” she said. “Hello Phonics is not a theoretical proposal. It is a tested solution that can deliver measurable results within a short time.”
She expressed confidence that, if formally presented and deployed nationwide, the model could significantly transform Nigeria’s literacy landscape within six months. According to her projection, at least 75 percent of pupils and students in both public and private schools who currently cannot read would attain reading fluency, including the ability to read textbooks and magazines, before the next academic session.
Such progress, she argued, would mark a major breakthrough in Nigeria’s struggle with illiteracy and contribute directly to reducing dropout rates and educational exclusion.
In her appeal to the Minister of Education, Adekanye requested that the Hello Phonics Model be tabled for discussion at the next meeting of the National Council on Education (NCE). She noted that because education is implemented at the state level, the NCE remains the most appropriate platform for securing nationwide adoption by state governments.
She urged that the model be considered as a strategic intervention for addressing reading challenges in primary and secondary schools, advancing girl-child education, strengthening adult literacy programmes, and tackling the out-of-school children crisis.
Adekanye stressed that the request is reinforced by the fact that Hello Phonics has already received NERDC approval, the statutory body responsible for curriculum development in Nigeria, thereby clearing a major regulatory hurdle.
She concluded by expressing readiness to make a formal presentation on the model whenever invited, adding that decisive action by the Federal Ministry of Education could help Nigeria make rapid and visible progress in literacy and human capital development.
Education stakeholders have increasingly warned that without urgent reforms in foundational learning, Nigeria risks entrenching cycles of poverty, unemployment, and social instability. The call for the adoption of innovative and homegrown solutions such as Hello Phonics is expected to add momentum to ongoing national debates on education reform.
