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<div class="gmail-heading"><div class="gmail-content"><h1 class="gmail-headline">Nigeria: El-Rufai, Akeredolu Canvass Use of Indigenous Language, Seek Educational Reform</h1>
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<div class="gmail-story-body"><cite class="gmail-byline">By Oluwaseun Akingboye</cite><p class="gmail-story-body-text">Akure
— Governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has called for an
overhaul of the country's educational policy, stressing that there is
dire need to adopt indigenous language for all round development.In the
same vein, the Ondo State governor and visitor to the university,
Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, lauded his Kaduna State counterpart for his
audacious revolution in the education sector.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">Akeredolu, who
reiterated a need for curricular reform and a common indigenous language
for all the ethnic groups in the country, described education as the
bedrock of socio-economic development.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">The duo stated this
during the fourth distinguished guest lecture of the University of
Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo, titled: "Transforming Nigerian
Educational System: Looking Back and Looking Forward."The Ondo governor,
who condemned widespread clamour for political restructuring, said:
"Restructuring must start from the education sector. If we get it right
here, other things will follow. Why are we not starting from here
because it will affect other sectors?"</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">While asserting
that the current educational policy operated in the country is obsolete,
El-Rufai stressed that it could not meet up with the present education
demands and realities.His words: "I think that fundamental reforms are
needed in education and I think what the Federal Ministry of Education
needs to do is to lead in reviewing the National policy on education,
which is already forty or fifty years old.</p>
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text">"In my view, it is
out of time; in the 21st century, so much has changed in education, but
there is a need to sit down and get experts in the subjects to look at
what is happening in the educational policies of countries in the world:
what is changing."Professionals are dying and new ones are coming up.
Our curriculum and policies on education are all grounded in the 20th
century, we are in the 21st and there is need for a holistic review of
that."</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">The Kaduna
governor, who lamented that the nation has not sustained the investment
on education in the past despite its importance to the development of
the citizenry in all ramifications, however, stated that "the situation
in Kaduna is perhaps better than some states in the North in terms of
education.</p>
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text">He said though the
legislation to eradicate early girl-child marriage in the Kaduna State
Assembly suffered setback due to perceived religious condemnation, his
administration dared such constituted authorities and passed it into law
in February.</p>
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text">He said: "Of
course, associated to that is the quest for indigenous language. Should
we still be teaching from primary to university in English Language?
What can we learn from other countries that teach in their own
indigenous languages up to university level?</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">"They teach from
primary to tertiary institutions in their own languages and they have
gone to space. China is competing with America and will soon overtake
the United States (U.S.) as the largest economy in the world.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">"They are dominant
force in ICT and defence, yet they are taught in Chinese. Is there
something we can learn there? Are we slowing down our development by
insisting that the only language of the educational communication is
English?"</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">"This national
policy should look at issues like this and come up with policies on
education that will prepare young people of Nigeria for the 21st century
because right now, the education we are giving them may not be fit for
21st century to compete globally."</p>
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<h4>Nigeria</h4>
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<p><em>Read the <a class="gmail-source-url" href="https://guardian.ng/news/el-rufai-akeredolu-canvass-use-of-indigenous-language-seek-educational-reform/" target="_blank"><strong>original article</strong></a> on <a class="gmail-publisher-url" href="http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/" target="_blank"><strong>Guardian</strong></a>.</em></p>
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<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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