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Pupils stand during an assembly after classes resumed at Obele-Odan Nursery and Primary School at Surulere in Lagos, Nigeria on January 18, 2021.
School instruction for primary school students will soon be conducted in the national languages in Nigeria rather than English, the Nigerian Minister of Education has announced.
It is not an experiment but rather a political and social choice. Primary school students in Nigeria will now receive their school instruction in the national languages.
With the new language policy drawn up by the federal government, ”teaching for the first six years in primary schools will be done in the mother tongue”, announced Adamu Adamu, the Ministry of National Education.
Thus, according to the Minister’s explanations, classes will be taught in the local language of each community for all students from the first to the sixth year of primary school.
Prior to the launch of this new policy, the country’s most widely spoken languages including Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba are being used to supplement English explanations in schools across Nigeria.
A challenge to take up
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However, with more than 600 languages listed in the country, the task promises to be difficult. But the Minister of National Education, who is convinced that this is an ambitious policy, recognizes the major challenge to be met.
The implementation of this new teaching plan, the date of which has not yet been revealed, the minister believes, also requires a lot of work to develop teaching materials and recruit teachers, among others.
But the government will put the means of its policy, he reassures, to achieve its objectives in this project.
“Students learn much better” when they are taught in “their mother tongue”, says Minister Adamu.
Until then, English is the official language of Nigeria and the one retained for learning at all levels of education.