Ensuring Quality Basic Education in Nigeria
Allowing
students to express themselves in the language they know will improve the quality of scholarship in
all the subjects
taught in the Junior
Secondary Schools in Nigeria. The
poor performance of
students in their subjects areas,
particularly at the
Basic, may not
always be due to
lack of
intelligence or ability
in these subjects.
Their insufficient mastery
of the tool
for communicating their
ideas could be
responsible for this.
But with growing
awareness of the problem, the National Policy
on Education stipulates
that “ every
child shall be taught
in the mother
tongue or language
of the immediate
community for the
first four years
of basic education.
In addition, it is
expected that every
child shall learn
one Nigerian language”
(NPE, 2013).
The National
Institute of Nigerian Languages
was established as an inter- University to develop, promote and
preserve Nigerian Languages. Despite the efforts
of the institute in research, teaching, documentation
and coordination of
studies in Nigerian
Languages, most Nigerian
children cannot understand write and speak
their indigenous languages fluently.
The Executive Director
of the institute,
Professor Obiajulu Emejulu
blames government, parents
and churches
for declining use
of indigenous languages. In his
words, ” Government
must act fast
before Nigeria’s remaining
native languages die”.
He is very concerned over
the future of
Nigerian languages which
are now termed “ endangered species”.
It is unfortunate
that the Colonial
government didn’t believe
in indigenous languages
as agents of
mass education, mass
literacy, and technological development
and suppressed the
languages. In those
days, students were
punished for speaking
the indigenous language.
The derogatory name – vernacular, was
given to the
indigenous language.
Scholars of those
years would rather take
pride in speaking
“Queen’s English” than
speaking the indigenous
languages.
Globalization has
widened the challenges of indigenous
languages more in the present
time than during the
colonial period. This is
because there is more
contacts with the
outside world which
makes international languages
such as English and
French languages a
must tool for
communication, diplomacy and
international transactions.
A study
of Nigeria’s education
system shows that
most Basic education
graduates cannot read
nor write correctly
after ten years
in school (
one year Early Child
Care Development Education (ECCDE); six
years Primary Education
and three years Upper
Basic Education). There
is need that
the focus should
now shift from
quantity to quality;
from competence to
performance; from theory
to practical.
The crisis
of out-of-school children in
Nigeria is a
crisis of children
aged 3- 14 years. The
ability of children
in school to
read with comprehension
should be compared
on a year
to year basis.
Going the Pakistan
way, it falls
on Nigeria to
encourage education in
mother tongues. It
has been observed
that some out-of – school children
who are perpetually
in their parents
tutelage are better
traditionally educated and exposed
to their mother tongue. They are naturally
intelligent and possess
natural undiluted wisdom. However,
it is not
surprising that there
are children who
are in school
and learning nothing.
This is because
those who do
go to school
are not learning
much as a
result of being
taught in a
second foreign language.
Many cannot read
a sentence after
years in school.
This is a global problem
caused by the
use of foreign
languages in education.
This is testified
by British Council
survey which shows
that 94 per cent
of English – medium private
school teachers in
Punjab, Pakistan do not
do not
speak English.
Teachers are
bound to encounter
some problems in
the strategies used
in implementing Mother Tongue- Based
Instruction in a multilingual classrooms
in Nigeria in quest
to ensure quality
Basic education. According
to Lartec,J.K., Belisario,
A.M., Bendanillo, J.P., Binas-o, H.K., Bucang,
N.O., & Cammagay,
J. L. (2014), the use
of mother tongue
in teaching in
a multilingual setting
such as in Nigeria, affects
the way pupils
learn. These scholars
insist that it
is necessary to
employ teaching strategies
that not only
adapt to the
interplay of the
different cultures and
languages, but at
the same time
give importance to
them. For effective
and efficient teaching
and learning in
mother tongue education,
strategies such as
translation of the
target language to
mother tongue, utilization
of multilingual teaching,
use of lingua-franca, improvising
of instructional materials
written in mother
tongue, remediation of
instruction and use
of literary piece
written in mother
tongue as motivation.
Some problems
encountered by the teachers
in implementing mother
tongue -based instruction
include absence of
books written in
mother tongue lack
of vocabulary and
lack of teacher
training. Some or
most of these
problems have been
taken care of
in the three
major officially approved
Nigerian languages : Ibo,
Hausa, Yoruba and
others such as
Efik / Ibibio, Tiv, Fulfulde,
Urhobo, Kanuri. It
is only the
minority and endangered
languages that still
suffer marginalization of usage.
The National
Institute for Nigerian
Languages (NINLAN) has
gone a step
further to offer
some programs in
order to alleviate
the problems encountered
in the teaching
and learning in
mother tongue and of
mother tongue in
Nigeria. In line with
its mandates, the programs are undergraduate degree
programs, post graduate
programs, NINLAN Consult, NINLAN
Acculturation programs. Under
the Academic programs
are School of
Arts, School of
Education, School of
Communication, Translation Studies,
and Nigerian Languages.
While efforts
are being made
to alleviate the
afore mentioned problems,
the challenges to
teaching mother tongue
and teaching in
mother tongue in
schools are compounded
by the migration
of people to
urban areas. This
implies further language
loss and cultural
erosion. Young generations
in cities are
less likely to
speak their mother
tongues. It falls
on the parents
to guard against
this and teach
their children mother
tongue right from
home.
It cannot
be overemphasized that
respecting indigenous languages
in education is
core to reducing
exclusion and increasing
inclusion in the education
sector most especially
at the Basic
level. Indigenous languages
have been hailed
globally as important
and as the
best means of
achieving quality education.
Above all, indigenous
languages make it
possible to realize
the importance of
incorporating traditional knowledge
into schools.
References
Lartec, J.K. et al. ( 2014 ).
Strategies and problems
encountered by teachers
in implementing mother
tongue – based instruction
in multilingual classroom.
IAFOR Journal of
Language Learning. 1 (1).
Tunde, A. (
2020 ). Government, parents, churches to blame
for declining use
of indigenous language. Interview, theeditor@punchng.com
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