A geologist and culture icon, Gbemisola Faleti, has charged the Federal Government and education policymakers to make it a policy to include the use of Nigerian major mother languages (Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo) as mediums of teaching in primary schools in the country.
He made this call on Monday, in Ibadan, while delivering his lecture titled ‘Your mother tongue, your most powerful pathway to learning’ in an event organised by the Centre for Applied Ethics and Political Communication in Africa (CAEPOCOM Africa) commemorating the International Mother Language Day 2022 with the theme ‘Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society’.
Faleti lamented that in most parts of the world, including Nigeria, it is unfortunate that borrowed languages have become the mother tongue, rendering the native language foreign to growing children. This anomaly, according to him, has become a great concern to key stakeholders, including the United Nations, as it hinders optimum understanding among students.
He noted that developed countries like Japan, China, Germany, Italy, etc., make use of their native languages as mediums of learning, adding that, “it is high time Nigeria rose up like other responsible countries of the world in making our native languages mediums of learning in elementary schools.”
“The task before us is to right the wrongs of our learned parents and guardian among us who have naively drawn us back by fostering foreign languages in homes, schools and the society,” he said. “It is high time we accepted our responsibility and rise up to it, that once our culture and tradition are foisted on our children through the mother language, our society will be better off for it.”
The Executive Director of CAEPOCOM Africa, Dr Sharon Omotoso, while reacting to Faleti’s lecture, expressed the need to develop globally accepted concepts, contexts and ideas using memes, symbols and objects which are embedded in our cultures and can be promoted through technologies.
She decried how language teachers are treated with disdain, adding that one-day foreigners might teach Nigerians their mother tongues for a fortune.
“If you can’t interpret what someone says to you in your mother language, you are in trouble,” she said.
A producer and presenter with Splash FM in Ibadan, Mr Michael Olatunbosun, lamented that it is an insult for people to call the Yoruba language a vernacular. “We should not be strangers in our land by speaking a foreign language. Some of our children are already strangers,” he said.
He stressed the need to be able to speak another language aside from one’s mother language, justifying the importance of multilingualism.
Early on, the Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mrs Folake Ayoola, represented by Mr Adejobi Olaposi, said the agency is committed to informing and educating the people in the grassroots, including promoting Nigerian languages.
The Acting State Coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Ms Akintayo Olamide, represented by the Principal Executive Officer of the Commission, Mr Onilari Babatunde, stated that many Nigerians have made the mistake of teaching their children English without teaching them their mother tongues, ultimately leading us to live fake lives.
The Programme Coordinator of CAEPOCOM Africa, Mr John Adabara, in his opening remarks pointed at the important roles of language teachers and why they were invited to attend the event with their students.
The invited schools were Oba Akinyele Memorial High School, Loyola College, St. Patrick Grammar School, and Ikolaba High School, all in Ibadan.
The meeting concluded on the need for government to revisit the National Education Policy, particularly the section on usage of the native language for early childhood education.
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