The Honourable Commissioner of Basic and Secondary Education,
Hon. Chinedu Ebie had on the flag-off of the Advocacy for the Teaching
of Indigenous Languages in Selected Pilot Schools in Delta State, said
that it a wrong thing to do, teaching students who will end up not
comprehending what is taught. This he said is a result of using alien
languages like English and French to teach our Nigerian children who
struggle to make meaning out of these languages before understanding the
message.
The advocacy programme which was held at Olorogun Felix Ibru
Conference Hall, Asaba on Tuesday 9, April 2019 had the presence of the
representatives of Ika, Isoko, Izon, Urhobo, Ukwani, Enuani and
Itsekiri.
In his keynote address, Hon. Chinedu Ebie among other things, said,
“teaching without total comprehension is wrong, hence the 6th edition
(2014) of the Federal Government National Policy on Education (at pages
8-16) proposes the usage of our mother tongue or language of immediate
environment as the language of instruction. It is also well known that a
strong mother tongue foundation equips children with skills they need
to learn additional languages, allowing them to transfer their
understanding of the structure to several new languages.”
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Also speaking at the event, Mrs. Christie Akako commended Hon. Ebie
for the promotion of the teaching and learning of indigenous languages.
Her words, “I commend the Honourable Commissioner for Education for his
giant strides towards the promotion of the teaching and learning of
indigenous languages.” She went on to say, “the population of our
country was recently estimated at 198 million inhabitants. Although
Nigeria has three major tribes-Hausa in the North, Ibo in the East and
Yoruba in the West, the country has over 250 ethnic groups and by
implication about 250 languages as well. Leaders of thought have made
efforts to see that indigenous Nigerian languages are taught in our
schools. One educational psychologist once said that a child understands
better what is taught in mother tongue than the school language. This
is because at birth the mind of a child is totally empty and whatever
value he is taught, whether formally or informally will register
automatically in his mind, such a thing becomes indelible,” she said.
According to Mr. MC Bioseh, the Director of Education Resource
Centre, “a biblical allusion to the Tower of Babel brings to the fore
the importance of language in growth and development of a people. The
builders of that skyscraper had their ambition crushed when their
language was confused. There is therefore compelling need to urgently
promote the teaching of indigenous languages in our schools. As a group
or community that is mutually intelligible in communication, we become
more united and organized. Presently, our languages are dying or
completely dead since many of us can no longer communicate effectively
in our mother tongue.”
It was an interesting event which ended with charge to revamp the
lost interest of our indigenous languages and those who honoured the
occasion returned enlightened, some publicly avowing to be communicating
with their children in their local language henceforth.
BY WILLIAM USIFO
