The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Commission in Nigeria, Dr Hammid Bobboyi says the use of the mother tongue in Schools is critical to productive citizenship, national cohesion as well as peace and prosperity.
Dr Boboyi stated this at a two-day stakeholders “Dialogue on Reading Initiative in the UBE Programme and the Use of Mother Tongue/Language of Immediate Environment as Medium of Instruction,” held in Abuja, Nigeria.
He said the use of the mother tongue or Language of the Immediate Environment as a Medium of Instruction is good for the future of Nigeria, as it will ease learning at the basic level, improve research, and subsequently aid development of the economy.
He said; “Fundamental learning is critical to the development of productive citizenship, sustainable development, national cohesion, as well as peace and prosperity. The call for dialogue on these important issues cannot therefore be overemphasised.”
Referring to statistics, Bobboyi said the dearth of the use of the mother tongue has contributed to the learning crisis in Nigeria as three out of four children in basic education classes can not read and comprehend.
“According to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, and the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, approximately three out of four children of basic education age 1 to 14 years in Nigeria, cannot read a text with understanding or solve simple mathematics problems,” he said.
Bobboyi therefore, urged stakeholders at the dialogue to frankly discuss and come up with actionable steps that would not only help UBEC but all stakeholders in ameliorating the situation.
He said despite several interventions by the Nigerian Government, state governments, and International Development Partners to address the issue, the challenge remains.
“Several factors, such as lack of access to instructional materials, especially on the language of the immediate environment, poor teaching quality, insufficient parental guidance and lackadaisical attitude of states towards implementing the language policy on the use of mother tongue/language of the immediate environment as a medium of instruction in the lower classes in Basic Education are responsible for this,” Bobboyi said.
He said there was a need for commitment from all stakeholders to overcome the challenges, especially training of teachers in the local languages.
Bobboyi agreed it would not be possible to start teaching all the local languages in schools at once because of limited resources, however, there was a need to start from somewhere.
The Executive Secretary of Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Prof Ismail Junaidu, in his Keynote address called for the implementation of the National Language Policy.
Junaidu said that “the policy approved in 2022 prescribes the use of the mother tongue or the language of the immediate environment as a medium of instruction in basic schools for teaching up to primary six.”
While stating that no language should be left out, he said over 60 language orthography, or writing systems, have been developed,
“After developing their orthography, the curriculum for teaching the language needs to be developed also for implementation. We have just published four of them,” he said.
Junaidu urged communities as custodians of the culture, to step in and complement the effort of government, adding that the council was ready to provide technical assistance to all languages.
The NERDC boss however lamented the apathy and lack of political will, as well as a shortage of language teachers, low capacity, and inadequate funds to implement the policy.
Junaidu called on relevant bodies to intensify sensitization, produce more instructional materials, build the capacity of teachers and implementing partners, as well as ensure partnership between agencies and development partners for proper implementation of the policy.
One the participants, Dr. Umar Kabir from the Department of Education, Bayero University, Kano said the presentations and deliberations in the event will aid in impacting knowledge on the children using the mother tongue as many technics have been learnt.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
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