johnfem321:
Do understand that English is Not our language and it can never be. English belongs to White people from England, USA Canada etc.. We are african and have our on tribe/ language here in Nigeria.. A Yoruba man can never become an English man, or Irish or welsh.. Same as an English man can never be a Yoruba man.. All other developed and advanced country use their own language to teach, communicate and as an official language.( such as Germany, Japan, china, etc) It’s still a form of colonisation to be using your colonial masters language.. I hope the policy will be extended towards secondary and tertiary institutions as well as work place.. it will be great for our country..

I wont say it is a form of colonization, I will say IT IS COLONIZATION. BBC is british state media and has no business with nigeria. yet they have invested billions of dollars in creating BBC News service covering detailed nigerian news at LGA and state levels - and they deliver the news to nigerians in igbo, hausa, yoruba and pidgin - because they know language is power and they want to maintain colonial control. such news services by bbc isnt charity or because they love you, they know what they are doing - they want colonial control...

Why is it that now buhari want to end his tenure we started seeing some good steps from him. Why did he wait this long?

Yureyes:


Nobody cares what Nigeria is. You don’t teach my child a regional language when the official language is something else. In Germany, their official language is German. In Nigeria, the official language is English, not Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa. So why teach my child? If the official language was the same as the mother tongue being taught, then you’ll have a point. I’d rather my child learn the official language that’s being taught nationally than learn a regional language that’s not mine.

Additionally, you are talking as if it isn’t Nigeria, where people move frequently. Imagine I live in the west, and I have a child who has been taught with Yoruba up to primary 3 level, then we move to the north where the language of instruction is Hausa and my child has to begin primary 4 learning in Hausa. How do you expect such child to cope?

Or imagine a state with multiple tribes are native to the state, so if I move from one city to another in the same state, I’ll be forced to learn all the languages because that’s the language of instruction in school?

You are too wise

immortalcrown:
Instructional material and qualified teachers were never the problem. I don't know what the man means in his reference to these two factors.

Good. The problem is, how will the government ensure a child from tribe A living in tribe B gets proper lesson on tribe A language? For example, a Yoruba kid in the North learns Yoruba language properly in the North.

A Yoruba kid in the North should concern himself about learning Hausa. It is the responsibility of his parents to teach him Yoruba at home.

Samantha123:
That's easy, here in SA, most multiracial schools or schools that have children from different cultures ensure that they have more than one home language as a subject.. they'd have at least three or four home languages as subjects and the child will decide which language to choose.

Or the parents could take the child to a school that has their home language as a subject, but at the same time I still don't see anything wrong with the child learning another language from his or her country.

In that way, the child will be able to communicate with the people from the area that he or she lives properly.

What is the official language in SA

This policy is sounding as the beginning to the end of Nigeria.
What a wrong approach in solving the educational problem! This is to cause socioeconomic and security problem.
With over 250 ethnic groups, how can this policy unite the already polarized Nigeria structure.
Please, mark this when the consequences appear.

Not only making it compulsory. They can do better by enforcing it as a core subject- if you don’t pass it, your entire result will be void. Unless that step is taking, pupils and parents won’t take it seriously

Yureyes:


Lol. What happens if I’m not Yoruba and we happen to live in Ile Ife and I have no desire for my child to learn Yoruba. Will the school teach my child in his own mother tongue too? The dominant language spoken in the community doesn’t make it my mother tongue

This is not an excuse, i speak French and Portuguese fluently. Are both my Mother tongue ?

Abokis and olden days policies

These guys are still stuck in the 70s

Well a good one though!

yemmit90:


You can't be easily co- existence as multi- ethnic country without using as official language. This is where the idea of using English emanating from.

How would you communicate with Effik, Kanuri, Igbo, Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba and many others at the same time?

Hope you get the logic now sir.

This is my point exactly. You can’t coexist in a multi ethnic society without an official language. I’m from a state where we have more than 5 languages. A senatorial zone has multiple languages. Will they say one city should teach with their language and another city should teach with a different language?

Some people mentioned the governor should decide the main language in such states. I laughed. Instead of doing it at state level, let’s do it at federal level. If it makes sense for the governor to choose a language of instruction for the people, let the president choose a language of instruction for us, we’ll all learn that language and make it our official language. We’ll ditch English completely.

The only people that support this are people that don’t see Nigeria beyond the 3 major languages. They think if you are not Yoruba, you are igbo or Hausa. When they understand how diverse Nigeria is, they’ll know how important English as an official language is for the country.

You can’t teach people in a language that’s not an official language. Imagine a child stops education at primary school level and was only taught in Yoruba. Then the president comes and give a national broadcast in English language and you expect the child to understand the president’s message?

georgeakins:


A Yoruba kid in the North should concern himself about learning Hausa. It is the responsibility of his parents to teach him Yoruba at home.

Exactly, why the government should have left such responsibility solely for the parents.

The child will be feeling marginalized from a very young age.

Another twist, if a child has parents from different tribes which language will the child be taught with. Knowing fully well that most children easily pick their mothers language than fathers' due to great proximity between mother and the children.

Yureyes:


Different from what I am saying. My point is, the main method of instruction in schools should be the county’s official language. Not a regional language. If we so hate the colonizers, then ditch their language and make yours the official language but we can’t because there are several tribes in the country. Compelling people learn a regional language when the official or national language is something else doesn’t make any sense.

make una stop to dey talk say there are several tribes in the country. if there are 200 tribes then let the number of official languages be 200. thats what many african countries are doing. in uk, there are over 4 tribes.

wamide042:

This is not an excuse, i speak French and Portuguese fluently. Are both my Mother tongue ?

That’s your choice. My choice is for my child to learn the official language in the country where he lives. If he lives in France, learn French. If he lives in Portugal, learn Portuguese. If he is in Nigeria, learnt the official language which is English. He shouldn’t be taught someone else’s mother tongue just because it’s their regional language except he chooses to learn it. If Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa was the official language in Nigeria, then we’ll happily learn it.

Neoteny7:


Read again.

The mother tongue is the dominant language spoken in the region.

Why would you assume yoruba will be the mother tongue in the north?

Someone's mother tongue doesn't mean the dominant language in your region of residence. Your mother tongue is the language spoken in your ancestral village.

ElSudani:
If true, one of the best policies to ever come out of our educational system.

Ode oshi.
What is so best by this useless outlandish policy?
The North are trying to water down education system for their advantage, you are open your useless mouth to support them.

BigBashiru:


make una stop to dey talk say there are several tribes in the country. if there are 200 tribes then let the number of official languages be 200. thats what many african countries are doing. in uk, there are over 4 tribes.

Lol� This must be a joke. Let the official language be 200?

Nigeria has over 500 languages spoken. I’d love it if we have 500 official languages. Your president will address people in over 500 languages. That will be fun!

immortalcrown:
Instructional material and qualified teachers were never the problem. I don't know what the man means in his reference to these two factors.

Good. The problem is, how will the government ensure a child from tribe A living in tribe B gets proper lesson on tribe A language? For example, a Yoruba kid in the North learns Yoruba language properly in the North.

Exactly my thoughts.

I would suggest a second universal language like pidin English instead.

fkj950ax:


How many textbooks are in Igbo Yoruba and Hausa.
How many novels or story books are in these languages?
That's instructional material being the problem.

In terms of teacher qualification, how many teachers can actually read and write in these languages to the point we trust them to grade students in these same languages?

All you listed there are not even the problem. The problems are much more than those.

1. Most public primary schools already teach pupils in the mother tongue. The problem is that most of the pupils find it difficult to cope with English classes in secondary schools.

2. Most of the public primary schools are attended by the children of the poor where the parents already communicate with them in their mother tongue and they speak the language of their environment. Now, English language would have been an opportunity to learn better for them but since they won't be taught in it, many of them would find it hard to cope later on.

That's rubbish!
When we are still struggling to be recognised as English speakers.
Take South Africans as an example, all countries recognise them as English speakers and they are given equal opportunities as the Americans, UK, Australia and other English speakers, they are even regarded as English speakers more than Canadians which has French and English speakers.
Most South Africans takes up ESL jobs all over the world and that in turns reduces unemployment in their country, the few countries that recognises us as English speakers are only Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong and Cambodia for ESL jobs. South Africans are enjoying the same privilege like the Americans and Brits.

CharleyBright:


Ode oshi.
What is so best by this useless outlandish policy?
The North are trying to water down education system for their advantage, you are open your useless mouth to support them.

Ori e o pe. Water down education? What is your definition of education, the ability to speak English? Olodo.

BigBashiru:


Stop always thinking about the obstacles and problems - typical nigerian mentality...

I think about them and overcome them. You don't think about them and they linger on for you. Every child has always grown to be fluent in the dominant language of his or her region of residence. Every Igbo kid raised in the North is better in Hausa language than in Igbo language. Every Igbo kid raised in Yoruba is better in Yoruba language than in Igbo language. So, if the mother tongue the government talks about is the language spoken where a child is raised, then there was never a problem with that.

Yureyes:


Lol. What happens if I’m not Yoruba and we happen to live in Ile Ife and I have no desire for my child to learn Yoruba. Will the school teach my child in his own mother tongue too? The dominant language spoken in the community doesn’t make it my mother tongue

Go back to wherever you come from, not a must you live in Yoruba land. Don't know what your likes even looking for, here.

Ope ooo

Remember English language in Nigeria is less than 100 years.. and the first university is less than 65years.. We have been co-existing, trading and communicating for several thousands of years before English came to Nigeria.. may be a bit of history will teach us how we have been communicating and how we can improve on the previous communication used

yemmit90:


You can't be easily co- existence as multi- ethnic country without using as official language. This is where the idea of using English emanating from.

How would you communicate with Effik, Kanuri, Igbo, Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba and many others at the same time?

Hope you get the logic now sir.

Cantonese:
Imagine teaching English in your mother tongue.

Imagine teaching English in some mother tongues, wey I no go mention their names. What about mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics?

Imagine teaching law in the mother language.

Some languages must not dare, otherwise everywhere go scatter!

If you are not taught English, imagine how it would be at the markets, or in public places. Imagine how you go take toast woman for road. As you are speaking your own, she dey speak her own with hand sign to respond.

You see your comment was neglected because there is no sense in it. From class one to Six only. Ode!

Teachers would be the most hit.
You can't teach in any primary school in any Yoruba-speaking state except you are Yoruba or can speak Yoruba fluently.
Same for the Igbo, Hausa, and other states.
When the policy becomes fully operational, a lot of primary school teachers may have to move back to their states of origin or learn the language of their host community.
National integration will receive a setback.
Except if they are already planning radical restructuring and eventual disintegration.
Now that the north has crude oil.....

FreeStuffsNG:

I completely agree.

The best thing is that the policy is based on emperical evidence. A study done in Ile Ife some years ago proved that students taught in Yoruba performed better than those taught in English language. Another thing is that this policy has helped nations like India greatly.

In few years, it will be extended to SSS3.

God bless Nigeria!

Lolz... For once I agree with you.

blaise26abj:


Nothing bad in allowing your child to learn the predominant language of your host community . Most Igbo kids that grew up in the south west can speak Yoruba fluently .
It is actually a great move if well implemented . In terms of integration of the country and ability of students to understand better what they are taught .
I see it as a baby step towards removal of state of origin and having state of residence .

The problem with most southerners is that we continually fail to realise that the North has never embark on a policy without a plan that serves her interest.
To what purpose is this very Mumu policy? Is it to unite the already disunited Nigeria that Buhari caused?
Nigeria has over 500 native languages. If every child has to be taught in their mother tongue, how is that possible for teachers to do that when the ratio of teacher to pupils is 1: 30 at the very least in public schools??

In what way will mother tongue help develop the country?

Besides, the North has an almost uniformed Hausa language while the South is much more diversified . So the policy will favor the North.
What will happen is that Hausa language will become the only language used to teach in schools in the North, and any one who doesn't understand Hausa is left in the dark.

Make una think well and analyze issues before una support.
The North plan well and execute policies to their advantage, the southern people always foolishly support and later cry foul when they realise their folly.

immortalcrown:
Instructional material and qualified teachers were never the problem. I don't know what the man means in his reference to these two factors.

Good. The problem is, how will the government ensure a child from tribe A living in tribe B gets proper lesson on tribe A language? For example, a Yoruba kid in the North learns Yoruba language properly in the North.

Your statement on the bolded section has been taken care of. He said that the language to be used will be the dominant language in the respective areas. So a Yoruba child residing in the North will be taught in a language prevalent in the area the child is.

ElSudani:


Ori e o pe. Water down education? What is your definition of education, the ability to speak English? Olodo.

Mumu boy.
Go back to school let them use your language to teach you again and let's see the result.
Continue to support aboki selfish policy that is meant to enshrine their dominance.
Will your mother tongue education compete in international market.
Countries are trying to move progressive forward, una dey foolishly support aboki backward policies.
This damn outlandish policy is meant to cater for illiterate northerners who can't cope with learning and speaking English.
It does not add any value.