WHY ‘MOTHER TONGUES’ MATTER

Government should take concrete steps to enforce the learning and teaching of mother tongue

The recent cancellation of the 2022 National Language Policy, which mandated that children in primary school be taught in their mother tongue or the language of their immediate community has continued to elicit debate. English, according to the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, will now be the medium of instruction for all subjects and all levels of education. He cited data showing that the previous policy contributed to high failure rates in national exams like WAEC, NECO, and JAMB, particularly in regions where the policy was largely implemented. But without prejudice to whatever may have informed the policy flip flops from the education ministry, it is important for all stakeholders in the country to understand the implications of the growing extinction of many of our indigenous languages.

Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing both tangible and intangible heritage. According to the United Nations, “all moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world….”

Incidentally, long before the intervention by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on the promotion of indigenous languages, the federal government had shown concerns for the plight of Nigerian languages when it sought to encourage their teaching and learning in our schools under the national policy on education. Section 1 (8) of the policy emphasises that “the Federal Government shall take official interest in and make policy pronouncements on the teaching of the indigenous languages, instead of concerning itself solely with English Language’’.

Accordingly, the policy stipulates that every pupil must during primary school education (which lasts six years), study two languages, namely, his/her mother-tongue, if available for study, or any other indigenous language of wider communication in his/her area of domicile alongside English Language. The policy also requires that students in Junior Secondary School (JSS), (which is of three-year duration) must study three languages, namely, mother tongue, if available for study, or an indigenous language of wider communication in his/her area of domicile, alongside one of the three major indigenous languages in the country, namely, Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba, provided the language chosen is distinct from the child’s mother-tongue. In Senior Secondary School (SSS), which also lasts three years, a Nigerian child, according to the policy, must study two languages: an indigenous language and English Language.

As we have consistently reiterated, several studies have shown a relationship between level of development and language with the attendant result that those countries that use their indigenous languages, called Mother Tongue, as their lingual franca have a faster rate of development than those that use a second (foreign) language. However, many schools are unable to offer these indigenous languages because of lack of teachers, a cumulative effect of several years of indifference. Obviously, the policymakers were aware of this acute shortfall when they used the phrase “if available for study” in the policy. This optional nature of the policy has undermined its implementation for years. We are also not surprised that the controversial 2022 policy has now been discarded. But we are concerned.

Since embedded in our indigenous languages is our rich culture, history, traditions, and values, government must take deliberate and concrete steps to protect them by enforcing the national policy on education with regard to learning and teaching of mother tongue. One of the ominous signs of danger today is the incremental loss of our rich arts forms, particular in music, dance and fashion as our youths have taken to the Western genre, threatening our cultural identity as African people.