<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="gmail-after-category">Taking intelligent advantage of foreign languages</h1>
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By Alabi Williams |
09 July 2017 |
3:42 am </span>
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<p>Once upon a time, there was deliberate and concerted effort by both
states and the Federal Government to teach French language in secondary
schools. That was a time when education was given prime treatment and
policy and funding. The money was not as huge as was experienced later,
when oil revenues yielded surplus, but the little that was available was
put to good use. The teaching of French language was encouraged, with <span style="font-size:inherit"><a id="gmail-PXLINK_3_0_2" class="gmail-pxInta" href="https://guardian.ng/opinion/taking-intelligent-advantage-of-foreign-languages/#">subsidies</a></span>
paid to those who take up the language as major course at higher
education. Students of foreign languages generally were encouraged to
travel for internship in countries of <span style="font-size:inherit"><a id="gmail-PXLINK_2_0_1" class="gmail-pxInta" href="https://guardian.ng/opinion/taking-intelligent-advantage-of-foreign-languages/#">native speakers</a></span>, in order to gain more expertise.</p>
<p>But after a while, interest in French language and other languages
waned and it was no longer a major subject in schools. Expatriate
teachers were no longer encouraged to come into the country and teach.
The case for French was really sad, for a country that is surrounded by
French speaking countries of Cameroon, Niger and Benin Republic. Chad
and others in central Africa also speak French. The gains for Nigeria as
first projected in the first republic were meant to be enormous, both
politically and in commerce. Imagine a Nigeria of today where majority
are good in French just as they are in English language. Imagine the
influence to be garnered among ECOWAS neighbours and in the <span style="font-size:inherit"><a id="gmail-PXLINK_1_0_0" class="gmail-pxInta" href="https://guardian.ng/opinion/taking-intelligent-advantage-of-foreign-languages/#">international community</a></span>,
where bilingualism and multilingualism have yielded great advantage in
global commerce and international bureaucracy. But policy summersault
and refusal to fund education generally have been the bane of
advancement in all spheres.</p>
<p>The same policy flip-flop and parochialism is what has been
demonstrated, with the controversial new education curriculum put in
place by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council
(NERDC). As is usual with the bureaucracy, undue secrecy over matters
that require public debates and inputs from stakeholders is what has put
the NERDC on the defence as the body struggled without much success to
explain what the new curriculum is all about and douse the ethnic and
religious tension the debate has generated.</p>
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<p>The rumour that the Federal Government was enthroning a new education
curriculum to give upper hand to Islamic religious study, against
Christian religious study gained traction early 2016, but very little
was done on the part of policy makers to explain the details. At that
time, the polity had not degenerated to what it is now, where ultimatums
are being issued for some Nigerians to return to their places of
origin. At that time, there was still hope that President Muhammadu
Buhari has come to do justice to Nigeria, to address old sentiments and <span style="font-size:inherit"><a id="gmail-PXLINK_4_0_3" class="gmail-pxInta" href="https://guardian.ng/opinion/taking-intelligent-advantage-of-foreign-languages/#">biases</a></span> that combine to frustrate national growth and development.</p>
<p>It was no less a man than Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, the Archbishop
emeritus of Lagos who drew public attention to certain rumour that
emanated from the education ministry, to the effect that the new
curriculum was about to be adopted.</p>
<p>In the piece titled; We Are Watching: The Education Curriculum, the
clergy, well distinguished in his bluntness and forthrightness way back
in April 2016, narrated what he gathered from the rumour mill. He
started by saying that the manner the country is configured allows for
all manner of stories and suspicions to be generated and circulated. He
said: “We live in a country where the rumour mills work relentlessly and
unceasingly, a land where conspiracy theories are never in short
supply. There are rumour in the air that a new curriculum of basic
education is either about to be adopted, or has already been adopted by
the Federal Ministry of Education, and that it is already being
implemented.</p>
<p>“It is said that this curriculum, with the stated intention of
merging religion and national values, merges subjects like Christian
Religious Studies, Islamic Studies, Civi Education, Social Studies, and
Security Education into one compulsory subject; that this compulsory
subject will be taught to our children from Primary 1 to Junior <span style="font-size:inherit"><a id="gmail-PXLINK_5_0_4" class="gmail-pxInta" href="https://guardian.ng/opinion/taking-intelligent-advantage-of-foreign-languages/#">Secondary School</a></span>
3, that our young and impressionable minds will be taught in this
compulsory subject that Jesus neither died on the cross nor resurrected;
that all the children to be taught this subject would be required to
memorise and recite the Quran; that they (children) will be taught or
are being taught already that they may disobey their parents if they do
not allow them to become Muslim.”</p>
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<p>The clergy proceeded to imagine that these were articles peddled by
mischief-makers and warned of their capacity to be destructive,
especially with the bourgeoning social media. But he equally warned of
the damage to be harvested should some persons in government attempt to
author a curriculum in the manner that was rumored.</p>
<p>He said: “If indeed such a curriculum is being implemented or is
about to be implemented then its authors and executors should seriously
consider its implications. It would be gravely imprudent to present
Islam to a Christian child in ways that devalue Islam. In same way, it
would amount to grave disservice to interreligious relationship if
Christianity were to be presented to a Muslim child in ways that devalue
the teachings of Christianity.”</p>
<p>That was April 2016. Today, those scary details that were rumored to
be in the new education curriculum seem not to be there anymore, or
maybe they have been watered down because of the flag raised by the
eminent clergy and others. What has become the bone of contention is the
study of Arabic language and fears that it would enhance propagation of
Islam and give undue advantage to adherents of that religion, while
Christians and persons of other religions would be shortchanged.</p>
<p>These fears are heightened due to past experiences, whereby each
religion and ethnic group works very hard to use state machinery to
procure certain advantages in favour of their religions. Since the
collapse of regional governments, centralization of administration and
policies has enthroned actions that tend to forcefully redistribute
talent and resources. Religion that was properly addressed as a private
concern in the Constitution finds its way back as the single most
important determinant of state policy. In other words, policies are
deliberately skewed not to foster growth and expansion of knowledge, but
to gain religious advantages. That is how the military administered the
country for decades and that is where we are still.</p>
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<p>Otherwise, having Arabic language as a major course is a good source
of knowledge for Nigerians of all religions. There is great deal of
scholarship to be derived from knowledge of the Arabians. Great
philosophers of Arab origin have influenced Western knowledge and
science and that should have very little to do with religion. The
Chinese are spending resources to teach their language all over the
world, not as a tool of imperialism, but to be part of global inclusion.
They want to facilitate commerce and expand their economy. Many
Nigerian languages are going extinct and world language bodies are
raising resources to help conserve them. What has NERDC done about them?
What programme of action does NERDC have in place to enable Nigerian
businesses take advantage of Arabic language to explore the Middle East,
apart from enhancing practice of Islam?</p>
<p>We have seen enough of educational policies that did not enhance our
science and technology. What have we gained from the 6,3,3,4 system and
the advantages of middle level technical skills it promised? What about
the Nomadic education policy, for which budgets are still raised as of
today, yet, farmers and herdsmen are fighting everywhere? How far have
we consolidated on teaching WAZOBIA?</p>
<p>The language of science and technology is not about religion; it is
not Arabic, it is not Chinese. It is not even English. It is in the
amount we invest in education and research. Lagos State is encouraging
teaching of Chinese, for knowledge and competitiveness in global space.
Those who work very hard to stifle knowledge on the basis of religion
are not doing themselves any good. They will not go anywhere, but could
succeed a while to hold others back.<br>
We can take advantage of all languages and be proficient in them. But
let religion remain where the constitution has consigned it.</p>
</article><div><a href="https://guardian.ng/opinion/taking-intelligent-advantage-of-foreign-languages/">https://guardian.ng/opinion/taking-intelligent-advantage-of-foreign-languages/</a><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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