Faith Nyasuguta
The government of Nigeria has announced a policy aimed at boosting the teaching of primary school pupils in local languages instead of English.
According to Education Minister Adamu Adamu who was speaking to journalists on Wednesday, the new framework known as the National Language Policy had been approved for implementation.
It outlines that instruction for the first six years in primary schools will be in the mother tongue.
Presently, English is Nigeria’s official language and all learning institutions use it as the common medium of teaching and learning.
Despite that, local languages will now take the centre stage, with the education minister noting that “pupils learn much better” when they are taught in their own mother tongue.
He revealed that implementing the new policy would be challenging because it would “require a lot of work to develop materials to teach and get the teachers”.
A separate challenge is the number of languages spoken in Nigeria – over 600 languages.
It was not immediately clear when the government will start implementing the new system.
The Nigerian authorities suggest they will first provide teaching materials and teachers for the local languages before the implementation in earnest.
