What we had thought was settled has unfortunately been re-opened: it is the subject of employing indigenous languages to teach children in their early part of schooling. The National Language Policy which formally gave the nod to the use of indigenous languages to teach in primary schools has been thrown out of the window. The policy stipulated that children from early childhood education to Primary Six should be taught in their mother tongue or the language of the environment. It was approved in 2022 as the National Language Policy for instruction in primary schools. The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announcing its cancellation, said the policy did not deliver.
In his words: “We have seen a mass failure rate in WAEC, NECO, and JAMB in certain geo-political zones of the country, and those are the ones that adopted the mother tongue in an over-subscribed manner.This is about evidence-based governance. English now stands as the medium of instruction from pre-primary, primary, junior secondary, senior secondary and tertiary education.”
According to reports, the scrapping was approved at a meeting of the National Council on Education, its 69th that took place in Akure earlier this month, from 3rd November to 7th. Dr. Alausa said pupils taught in indigenous languages struggled with basic English comprehension, hence the higher failure rates. English now stands as the medium of instruction across all levels of education. He said using the mother tongue in Nigeria for the past 15 years has literally destroyed education in certain regions. “We have to talk about evidence, not emotions.”
Anticipating criticisms, the Minister said stakeholders who might differ were welcome but asked that they come forward with verifiable data to support their positions, assuring them that the government remained open to evidence-based language to strengthen the education sector.
When the report of the cancellation of the policy reached me, my mind raced to Professor Babs Fafunwa now of blessed memory. He passed away 15 years ago, but not until he had witnessed the enheartening positive triumph of decades of his struggle to see indigenous languages as medium of instruction in our schools. I began to wonder how far he may have gone in the Beyond. I do pray, very far. I recall what appeared as correlation of indigenous language with the importance of names.
Maria Virginia Haoa writing about language in January 2022 stated: “Language is inseparable from our way of being, our thoughts, our feelings, our joys and much more. It is through our language that we show who we are. If our language disappears, the whole socio-cultural foundation of our community of our speakers is put at risk.”
Since each human being is his name; he is not just the name he bears, he is the name, it came as a surprise and it was instructive when Prof. announced his change of name. The name when it is called rings out using voice waves. In 1990, he decided to readjust his name and I could not help spreading it in this column as follows: Captioned “Je m’appelle Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa”
‘Meanwhile, I have been advised of the affidavit to which Professor Fafunwa swore recently. He, formerly known as Professor Babs Fafunwa wishes to be known and addressed henceforth as Professor Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa. All former documents remain the same. Federal Ministry of Education and Tai Solarin to note.
‘Tai Solarin is the Prof.’s friend. The change of name is coming at a time Dr. Solarin has renewed his battle against what he has described as foreign names. Dr. Solarin admires Professor Fafunwa’s scholarship in the same manner and degree he respects Professor Sam Aluko and the late Professor Ayodele Awojobi. Dr. Tai Solarin has to adjust a habit that has endured for nearly 30 years of their friendship and mutual respect. He has no choice in the matter. It is a decree issued by the bearer and owner of the name: “Je m’appelle Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa.”’
That was 35 years ago. Today I wish him help and pray that his path may be blessed wherever he may be, awakened into joyful activities in his continuing journey through Creation with gaze turned upwards.
According to UNESCO 2016: Studies indicate that instruction in a student’s native language improves understanding, analytical skills, and over all academic achievement. It enriches the learning experience but also promotes environmental stewardship and cultural resilience.
A study published in December 2021 by the Australian National University, according to UNESCO website, corroborates this, raising alarm on the future of linguistic diversity and underlying the point that of the world’s 7,000 recognised languages –6,000 of which are indigenous languages—around half are currently endangered, with 1, 500 particularly at risk. When an indigenous language is lost, not only does the knowledge accumulated by the community of its speakers fade away, but also the world’s cultural and biological diversity.
The principle of using native language as medium of instruction is stretched wider than just school teaching to what the UN considers as touching on fundamental rights of the citizens. This is reflected in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) adopted by the UN in 2007 to which the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is said to have made substantial input. It encompasses the right for communities to practise and transmit their traditions and languages as well as to protect their heritage and objects. It is not from what any society would want to cut off their children, but to ingrain in them their uniqueness. For this reason, most major countries of the world use native languages to teach in their schools. In the Philippines, indigenous peoples use their mother tongue as the primary language of instruction. The same obtains in Kenya and Tanzania. Kenya’s renowned writer Ngugi wa Thiong ‘o says: “Language exists as culture; it is the collective memory bank of people’s experience in history.”
International Expert Group meeting on Indigenous Languages from 8th to 10th January 2008 in New York considered language as the cornerstone of culture and the ultimate expression of belonging as it is through language that culture is shared and transmitted; a unique world view is expressed and identity is moulded and created. Connected with language is indigenous peoples’ ultimate relationship with the land.
The scrapping of the policy and the plan is obviously to halt the embarrassing high failure rates. The nation is eagerly awaiting the coming on stream of what the Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Ahmed announced as other measures to address learning challenges at the foundational level. She said a training package for teachers that focuses on literacy and numeracy is being designed. It specifically targets teachers of pre-primary to Primary One to Three. “We are training them on the best methods to teach literacy and numeracy and the approach to classroom learning.” It is to be hoped the training is going on simultaneously in all parts of the country and sight will not be lost of the essence of returning to the use of indigenous languages ultimately. What happens during the gestation period to stem failures must be in focus, too.
We would not know from where Professor Fafunwa was coming that made him apply himself unremittingly in the pursuit of getting indigenous languages used in Nigerian schools. I intervened in the debate at its peak in 1990, as follows:
Professor Babs Fafunwa will, it seems, need salesman Alex Nwokedi to push his product, Mother Tongue in schools, which refreshing and appealing as it is to our saturated ethnic sentiments, is not finding enthusiastic buyers in the market. Alex Nwokedi was that guy who had the magic of turning NEPA’s powerlessness to light. Darkness is darkness. What description, what definition are you going to give to a situation where there is power outage and there is no light, but utter darkness?
In those days, Ogbuefi would make you to disbelieve yourself; he would try to make you comfortable and create a situation of light in your mind even though all around you was darkness. He was adept at it. He was tireless. He cared. All he was getting at was understanding. In the State House as General Obasanjo’s Press Secretary, he explained Obasanjo so well that Obasanjo smelled so sweet that the General could almost got away with anything.
NEPA’s case was bad; Obasanjo’s policies were not always without discomfort. Fafunwa’s case has merit. But habits change hard, at the same pace as the geological face of the earth. In the villages, what Fafunwa is struggling to persuade the urban people to buy is in place. It is in the villages more than 70 per cent of Nigerians live. Yet the strong opposition is coming from the substantial minority in the cities.
Part of the reason for the opposition may well be the desire to see one’s son speak Queen’s English and make him intelligent before his time so he can have a headstart in the future. The apprehension is understandable for the reason that a Mr. Crondje may emerge who will decree that you fail in English you fail in all subjects.
The experiment has been successful at Ife, by that we mean University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University. Professor Fafunwa has achievement statistics to brandish to buttress his argument. But we don’t know how successful it is in the villages which have been on the same page and have been at home with Fafunwa’s programme. Ife, it can be argued, provides a rich and receptive soil to grow all-round pupils. There is hardly any parent on the campus who will fold his arms and cross his legs while his child is doing poorly in school. This is not in any way meant to diminish the noble thought behind Fafunwa’s programme.
The merit of Professor Fafunwa’s drive is, in my view, obvious. A child’s first contact with the world is through its mother and as it grows it communicates in her language. The homes where this is not the pattern must be few, indeed. Perhaps it may have to do with a medical condition that necessitates taking the baby away from her. The mother tongue is thus the language in the home. The first three years in the primary school when the local language will be the medium of instruction is the period of transition. It makes eminent sense that there is no sudden jump from language being spoken at home to a foreign language being spoken in school. It is unnatural. A child will be more at home if it first has grounding in its mother tongue and it moves step by step into the next stages of development.
A far more fundamental point is that language is a people’s culture. And culture is a manifestation of their development, that is the level of the development of their inner being. A rich inner life forms a rich culture, civility, humility and grace. Who does not rejoice in the culture of his people no matter where he may be, radiating warmth, the face shining and proudly in smiles, indeed, sunshine smiles? Time was—in the early stages of the development of man—when mankind were raw savages and their highest achievement was merry-making, pleasure, bloodletting, marriage and endless childbearing.
As man developed, he grew out of primitivity and began to have high and noble aims and standards. As people must develop at their own pace in the exercise of their free will, the inalienable gift given to every man, it follows that their inner clarity, perception must vary. The vehicles of expression of their perceptions must correspondingly vary—the Tower of Babel. No people may therefore be disturbed in their development. It means much more harm than is apparent to us debaters.
Everyone speaks the language that is appropriate for him and his development. When he is mature to recognise and speak the perfect language, he will do so and the perfect language already exists on the face of the earth—prepared for thousands of years for this time. It is, therefore, cruel, borne out of ignorance to attempt to separate a school child from his indigenous language that is inseparable from his being. The language of each people was derived from sound in the elements which with the radiations of the soil, of the plants, wind and stars special to their environment, fashioned and are shaped to give each people their language or dialect intrinsic to them. The closer they are to Nature, observing Nature and obeying the Laws of Nature the sharper their perception, the higher their wisdom and the richer their proverbs.
Step forward Abraham Adesanya: Ibi ti a ti nlu lati injo. Enit’o ni nwon nlu l’okeOrun ko puro; eni t’o ni nwon jo ni Ajule Orun ko si so! (Where there is music, there is dancing. “Therefore, whoever says there is beating of drum in Paradise, the Spiritual Realm has said the truth; and whoever says there is dancing in Primordial Spiritual Realm has not spoken amiss!”
Fafunwa’s programme is not as unworkable as it is being touted. There was a famous teacher at Abeokuta Grammar School who taught his students a science subject in the local language. The old boys of the school should remember him. There was hardly any of the students who offered the subject that did not pass it in high grades.
That said, it ought to be pointed out that Fafunwa’s critics have legitimate fears. The critics are from the cities and the cities are cosmopolitan. Do they send their children to the villages so they can be taught in the language of their parents? Their must be a way to allay their fears. If you asked me, I would say it is a question each parent should answer himself. The choice of what is best for his child is his.
Fafunwa is on course, but he should be ready for battle. By the way, it may be interesting to know what the medium of instruction was in the primary school Professor Ayo Banjo, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan attended; the primary school for Professor Alfred Opubor; ‘Cicero’ Bola Ige; Professor Wole Soyinka; Professor Richard Anao; Justice Omololu Thomas; Dr. Stanley Macebuh; Emeka Odumegwu- Ojukwu; and some Speakers of the First Republic such as Adeleke Adedoyin. There are more, Great speakers of English Language—all.
