As a new administration prepares to take power, certain policies enunciated by the outgoing administration need thorough scrutiny before implementation to avoid a policy summersault. SUNNY IDACHABA captures reactions of Nigerians on the switch to mother tongues as medium of instruction with additional agency reports.
In November, the federal government through the minister of education Adamu Adamu announced a switch from English as a medium of instruction to mother tongue especially at the lower stratum of education.
According to the minister Adamu Adamu, the policy is the best guarantee for a solid educational foundation for every child; therefore would be vigorously pursued. However, since the announcement, skepticism has followed the method to be adopted in implementing it more so as there are multiplicity of ethnic diversities in the country.
The recent National Language Policy makes it compulsory for mother tongue to be the medium of instruction from Primary 1 to 6.
There has therefore been minimal pushback leading to diverse reception that are likely to stem from its implementation.
As it is, the mother tongue is the only medium of instruction for the first six years of education, while English and the mother tongue will be combined from the start of junior secondary school.
Ministerial clarification
According to Adamu while briefing newsmen at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, he admitted that the implementation would be challenging but surmountable.
“A memo on national policy was approved by the council. So, Nigeria now has a National Language Policy and the details would be given later by the ministry.
“Theoretically, this policy starts from today and the use of mother tongue is exclusive but we need time to develop the material, get the teachers and so on.
“Since the first six years of school should be in the mother tongue where the pupil is, the language of the host community is what will be used,” he said.
Expert views
In the views of someone like Dr Philip Imoh of Nasarawa State University, the objective of the policy is necessary and commendable.
According to him, “As a linguist, I can tell you that the best way to teach is through the mother tongue. Of course, language is the vehicle through which every other aspect of culture is taught and learnt.
“If a child learns through the mother tongue, that child will have a good grasp of education, the language and the culture as well.”
This opinion is not peculiar to him alone as a professor of African Literature in Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Sule Egya, equally said that the policy has the potential to enrich Nigeria’s education system.
In his views, “The best way children can learn to internalise the complexity of science is to learn it in their own indigenous languages. For children to learn the language of computer, the complexity of Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Biology at the basic level, it would be best understood if they do so in their mother tongues.
“Besides, it would also promote our culture, ethnic values and heritage because language is beyond just spoken and written words; language is also about culture.
“When you’re speaking a language all the time, then you are bound to internalise part of the culture of that language.
“This policy is perhaps one of the two best policies the present administration has pronounced in the education system. The second is the reintroduction of history as a subject at the basic school level,” he said.
It is however imperative to note that some of the issuess alluded to by the minister to include timeframe, training of teachers, development and review of curricular and instructional materials and the definition of mother tongue cannot be waived aside by the wave of the hands. This is the view of Dr Mrs Stella Thomas an educationist. She said, “Because this is not the first time this policy would be conceived and fail, its good to prepare well to avoid some of the pitfalls in the past policies.”
But it is generally believed that the policy could not have officially taken effect when the government has not developed instructional materials and made provisions for recruitment of qualified teachers.
Like Dr Stella, experts in education say similar interventions failed in the past because the government did not put any mechanism in place to address the challenges involved in their implementation.
According to Dr Imoh, “It is not a new policy. It is called Language Policy on Education and it has been reviewed several times but has never been implemented. Not even at the level of the three major ethnic groups.
“The issue is that the use of native language will be concentrated on languages of wider communication in each community.
“Like in the north, Hausa becomes the dominant language to be used, while Yoruba and Igbo are to be used in the South-west and South-east.
“However, there are other groups, such as the Efik, Ibibio, Tiv, Igala, Idoma, Nupe, with large concentrations.
“Part of why the policy failed in the past is that, as a Yoruba person, if you go to Benue, will you like your children to be taught in Tiv language?
“So, we must understand that there are socio-political implications. We need to know if government has the political will to implement it and if the people are ready to accept it.”
A peep into history
It could be recalled that the policy thrust that indigenous languages should serve as the medium of instruction in the lower stratum of primary education dated as far back as 1927.
Before the latest review, the National Policy on Education (NPE), formulated in 1977 and reviewed in 1981, 1998 and 2004, mandates the use of language of immediate environment in the first three years of primary education.
It has found out that students comprehend better when you explain a topic in an indigenous language and demonstrate more passion for learning when teachers switch to an indigenous language in a classroom setting says a recent report.
That report titled: ‘Language Policy on Education in Nigeria: Challenges of Multilingual Education and Future of English Language’, was published in the American Research Journal of English and Literature.
Likely lapses
On the other hand, the report said students feel that teaching with indigenous languages may not prepare them well for international examinations.
Also, Mrs Gloriana Achem, an Igbo woman married to an Igala husband wondered how her children would be instructed in neither her Igbo language nor her husbad’s since they reside in Abuja highbrow where Hausa language is hardly spoken. “Like the minister said, more works need to be done to clear the air on certain aspects of this policy because I don’t know how my children that neither speak Igbo nor Igala and even Hausa would pick instruction in a new language. Well, May be before the policy kicks off, they would have left primary schools but that should be factored into consideration by the drafters of this policy.”
Prof Egya, who is the director, Centre for Arts and Indigenous Studies at IBB University, however provided an answer as he advocated the creation of a department or agency saddled with the responsibility of implementing the policy.
“If the government is really serious about it, first of all, it should map out a pragmatic timeline because it is not something we should rush.
“I don’t know how much has been allocated, but it sounds like a huge project.
“The Federal Ministry of Education should create a department or an agency that will pay particular attention to the development of the mother tongue,” he said.
The new language policy on education is a welcome development. However, its implementation requires meticulous planning and political will for it to deliver desired results.
