Fafunwa Educational Foundation lauds FG on mother tongue policy

The Fafunwa Educational Foundation (FEF) has commended the Federal Government on its just announced policy of making mother tongue compulsory in the nation’s primary schools.

The FEF is a non-governmental organisation that both analyses issues that bear on Nigeria’s educational sector and advocates salutary policies.

In a release by Secretary, FEF, Muyiwa Obiyomi, the foundation noted that its founder and former Minister of Education, Professor Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa, was an earnest and persuasive champion of the adoption of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in primary schools.

Fafunwa, who died in 2010, encouraged the FEF to organise series of conferences to advance the case for adopting mother tongue in childhood education. His unrelenting commitment to that cause was borne of his conviction that students become more attuned, confident and grounded when they are taught concepts in the organic medium of their first language.

The body said Fafunwa pioneered the production of a science programme at the primary education level in Nigeria, and chaired the ‘Fafunwa Study Group’ on the funding of primary education. The group’s report led to the creation in 1987 of Nigeria’s National Primary Education Commission (NPEC). He wrote that primary school education in the mother tongue would
“deliver students from the shackles of colonialism, allow for effective and meaningful communication between the teachers and students within and outside the classroom and also promote the development of mature judgment by the pupils.”
“To him, education must be relevant to the needs of the society. In recognition of the profound cognitive benefits of instruction in mother tongue, the board and members of the FEF resolved that their founder’s passionate cause must be sustained. Since Professor Fafunwa’s death, the foundation has held numerous seminars and workshops that offered roadmaps for integrating mother tongue into early education in Nigeria,” Obiyomi said.

Chairman of the FEF, Mrs. Doris Fafunwa, said she was gladdened to learn that the Federal Government has finally adopted a policy long proposed by her late husband. She hoped policy makers, teachers, parents, students and other stakeholders would approach the implementation of the new policy with requisite rigour, wisdom and investment of time and resources.
“If properly implemented, the policy is bound to help preserve Nigerian culture and save many indigenous languages from the threat of extinction,” Fafunwa said.

She called on Nigerians to be proud of their rich cultures, urging parents to cultivate the habit of interacting with their children and wards in indigenous language instead of leaving the implementation of mother tongue education entirely to teachers.

Fafunwa added that members of the FEF were willing to assist policy makers and teachers in making a success of the new policy.