Until few days ago, only a handful of Nigerians were probably aware that the official language of instructions in Nigerian Schools from the early stages to primary six was mother tongue or indigenous languages spoken in the areas where schools were located. The recent revelation shows that the policy has been in place since 2022. So, the present minister of education, Dr. TunjiAlausa, obviously was not part of the three-year old arrangement
In reversing the policy, Alausa hinged the government action on the fact that the Nigerian children have been performing poorly in public examinations because they were taught in the mother tongues. In his evidence-based data-driven research by his ministry, the minister said the policy had “destroyed” the education system, as pupils and students often advanced to higher classes without learning essential skills.
Without applauding or condemning the action of Alausa, some questions require answers from those who made the policy. For example; “what was the reason behind it?” And “which model of education was followed in arriving at that? The answer is likely to be that countries like China and India use their languages for instructions in schools. These are not good examples for many reasons. India has 22 official languages enshrined in her constitution, with Hindi and the English languages serving as the official languages used by the government at the centre.
On the contrary, there is no part of the Nigerian constitution that promotes any language other the English as the country’s official language even though Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo languages are continually promoted by their main speakers as worthy to be used as official.
None of the tribes that speak these languages will agree for any other except theirs be chosen for use by citizens. The country has over 500 languages (mother tongues). With the exception of a few, they are not complete and will be difficult to use them for scholarly instructions
There is nothing wrong in maintaining the continued use of theEnglish language as the one for instruction code. Development will even be faster due to its global acceptance. Despite the fact that, like Nigeria, the US has about 430 languages, making it one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world, there is no official language at the federal level while many states have adopted English and other indigenous languages as official. Almost the same thing applies to Canada with about 470 languages but retained English and French as official.
For Nigerian Languages to be effectively used for instructions, they have to be developed enough to accommodate almost all items and their names and right uses in grammar constructions. They must be acceptable to other persons that are not necessarily part of the indigenous speakers, to the point where these non-indigenes can enroll for their studies.
The Ika language as a course of studies at the college of education, Agbor before its conversion to the University of Delta has never had its minimum admission quota. Not even the Ika people have chosen it as course for their children.
More so, whether we like it or not, most city dwellers are more pleased with their children being taught in schools with the English Language. Many of them will even be surprised that a policy requiring pupils to be educated with their mother tonguesever existed in the country. There is no private school that will command the acceptance of the influential Nigerians that can afford their fees if they project themselves as schools with mother tongues as languages of learning.
It has therefore become imperative for Nigerian parents to step up the use of their mother tongues as languages of communications at homes and offering assistance to their children and wards in their school assignments. This is necessary for groups that do not want their languages to go into extinct before 2030 as has been predicted long ago.
Meanwhile, enough should be enough for policy summersaults in Nigeria’s education system.
