The Nigerian government has issued a policy to encourage primary school students to be taught in local languages rather than English.
On Wednesday, Education Minister Adamu Adamu told the press that the new National Language Guideline had been approved for implementation.
It requires that the first six years of primary school instruction be in the student’s mother tongue.
English is the official language of Nigeria and is used as the common language of teaching and learning in all educational institutions.
But local languages will now take centre stage, with the education minister saying “pupils learn much better” when taught in their own mother tongue.
He admitted that implementing the new policy would be difficult because it would “require a lot of work to develop materials to teach and get the teachers.”
Another obstacle is the fact that Nigeria has over 600 languages.
It is unclear when the government will begin implementing the new system.
The Nigerian authorities indicate that they will first provide teaching materials and teachers for the local languages before proceeding with full implementation.
Source: BBC
