Private Schools in Nigeria Are Selling Accents More Than Education

You know the signs. A parent visits a school and hears one six-year-old say, “Mummy, may I have some wa-ter?” with a tiny British accent. Ah. School fees are working. Add a smart uniform, French on Tuesdays, “international” somewhere in the school’s name and a reception that looks like a small bank, and the matter is settled.

Nobody has asked whether the child can read and explain what they just read. But at least the “water” is sounding expensive.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with speaking good English. There is also nothing wrong with a Nigerian child naturally having a British, American or mixed accent. Children pick up how people around them speak. The problem is when we start using an accent as evidence that a child is intelligent.

A child can pronounce every word beautifully and still not understand the passage. They can recite a definition exactly as it appears in the textbook but struggle to explain it in their own words. They can perform confidently during the school’s open day, then freeze when a question comes from outside what they rehearsed.

Some private schools know exactly what parents are looking for, so they sell the visible things. Pronunciation gets serious attention. Speaking a Nigerian language may attract punishment. The school advertises a British, American, Montessori and Nigerian curriculum all at once, as if they are selling a family combo. Meanwhile, the parents may never get a clear answer about how the school teaches children to think.

To be honest, parents are part of the wahala too. Many of us will complain faster about our child sounding “too local” than about the child not understanding mathematics. We want children who can enter any room in the world with confidence, which is fair. But confidence is not the same as copying somebody else’s voice, and sounding foreign is not the same as being educated.

Nigeria already has a serious learning problem. UNICEF’s 2023 education fact sheet found that only 27% of children aged 7 to 14 had foundational reading skills, while 25% had foundational numeracy skills. That figure covers the wider education system, not private schools alone. Still, it should make us care more about what children understand than how polished they sound while saying it.

And yes, many private schools offer things overcrowded public schools cannot currently provide: smaller classes, safer facilities, closer supervision, more activities and teachers who show up consistently. Those things matter. This is not an argument for parents to withdraw their children and keep them at home. Please, that is not what I said.

It is simply a reminder that expensive branding can hide ordinary teaching. Before paying another large development levy, ask to see what the children actually do. Can they read something unfamiliar and understand it? Can they solve a problem that was not rehearsed? Can they ask questions without being embarrassed? Can they disagree respectfully? Can they explain an idea without repeating their teacher word for word?

Visit the school on a normal Tuesday if possible, not only during the polished open day when everybody suddenly becomes well behaved. Talk to other parents. Look beyond the accent and the uniform. A school should prepare a child for life, not just for sounding impressive when visitors come to the house.

At the end of the day, a polished accent is simply a way of speaking. Real education should teach a child how to think.

If you had to choose, would you prefer a child who sounds international or one who can genuinely think for themselves?