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<div class="gmail-post-header-inner"><div class="gmail-post-header-title"><h1 class="gmail-single-post-title"> <span class="gmail-post-title">Emir of Kano calls for use of local language to teach in schools</span></h1><div class="gmail-single-post-excerpt gmail-post-excerpt-at"><p>Sanusi,
 who gave the advice at a two-day Northern Nigeria Traditional Leaders 
Conference on Out-of-School Children, in Kaduna, said that the use of 
only English language in teaching has contributed to low educational 
development in the country.</p></div><div class="gmail-post-meta gmail-single-post-meta"> <a href="https://theeagleonline.com.ng/author/theeagle/" title="Browse Author Articles" class="gmail-post-author-a gmail-post-author-avatar"> <span class="gmail-post-author-name">By <b>The Eagle Online</b></span> </a> <span class="gmail-time">On <b>Oct 10, 2018</b></span></div></div></div><div class="gmail-post-share gmail-single-post-share gmail-top-share gmail-clearfix gmail-style-1"><div class="gmail-share-handler-wrap gmail-bs-pretty-tabs gmail-bs-pretty-tabs-initialized"> <span class="gmail-share-handler gmail-post-share-btn gmail-rank-default">  <b class="gmail-number">4</b> </span> <span class="gmail-social-item gmail-facebook gmail-has-count gmail-first"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftheeagleonline.com.ng%2Femir-of-kano-calls-for-use-of-local-language-to-teach-in-schools%2F" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="gmail-bs-button-el"><span class="gmail-icon"></span><span class="gmail-number">4</span></a></span><span class="gmail-social-item gmail-twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Emir+of+Kano+calls+for+use+of+local+language+to+teach+in+schools @DEagleOnline&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheeagleonline.com.ng%2Femir-of-kano-calls-for-use-of-local-language-to-teach-in-schools%2F" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="gmail-bs-button-el"><span class="gmail-icon"></span></a></span><span class="gmail-social-item gmail-google_plus"><a href="https://plus.google.com/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheeagleonline.com.ng%2Femir-of-kano-calls-for-use-of-local-language-to-teach-in-schools%2F" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="gmail-bs-button-el"><span class="gmail-icon"></span></a></span><span class="gmail-social-item gmail-linkedin"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheeagleonline.com.ng%2Femir-of-kano-calls-for-use-of-local-language-to-teach-in-schools%2F&title=Emir+of+Kano+calls+for+use+of+local+language+to+teach+in+schools" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="gmail-bs-button-el"><span class="gmail-icon"></span></a></span><span class="gmail-social-item gmail-pinterest"><a href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheeagleonline.com.ng%2Femir-of-kano-calls-for-use-of-local-language-to-teach-in-schools%2F&media=https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Emir-Muhammad-Sanusi-II-2.jpg&description=Emir+of+Kano+calls+for+use+of+local+language+to+teach+in+schools" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="gmail-bs-button-el"><span class="gmail-icon"></span></a></span><span class="gmail-social-item email gmail-last"><a href="mailto:?subject=Emir+of+Kano+calls+for+use+of+local+language+to+teach+in+schools&body=https%3A%2F%2Ftheeagleonline.com.ng%2Femir-of-kano-calls-for-use-of-local-language-to-teach-in-schools%2F" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="gmail-bs-button-el"><span class="gmail-icon"></span></a></span></div></div><div class="entry-content gmail-clearfix gmail-single-post-content"><p style="font-weight:400">The
 Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, on Wednesday, advised the Federal 
Government to institute a policy that allows the use of local languages 
to teach in Nigerian schools.<br> Sanusi, who gave the advice at a 
two-day Northern Nigeria Traditional Leaders Conference on Out-of-School
 Children, in Kaduna, said that the use of only English language in 
teaching has contributed to low educational development in the country.<br>
 The conference was organised by Federal Ministry of Education, 
Universal Basic Education Commission, National Commission for Mass 
Education and Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development in 
collaboration with UNICEF.<br> According to him, the national policy on 
education that allows only English language as a means of communication 
in classrooms is defective and responsible for low assimilation among 
students.<br> He said: “English as a language yes, but English as the only medium of teaching and learning is wrong and counterproductive.<br> “You don’t need English language to be a doctor, you don’t need it to be engineer or anything one wants to be.”<br>
 He stressed that teaching with mother tongue would go a long way in 
improving the rate of assimilation and make teaching and learning 
interesting and productive.<br> Sanusi also pointed out the lack of 
commitment to improving the quality of education by all levels of 
governments had manifested over the years in the paltry budgetary 
allocation made to education by all levels of government.<br> He said that only seven per cent of the 2018 federal budget was allocated to education against the recommended 26 per cent.<br> He said: “This is a clear indication that education was the least of the Nigeria’s priority. This is quite disturbing.<br>
 “Our political leaders must be held accountable if they fail to meet up
 with their responsibility of providing education, quality health 
services and other development aspiration of the people.<br> “If a 
sitting governor cannot ensure that his people are educated, healthy and
 empowered to live a productive life then he has no business being in 
governance.”<br> Earlier, 16-year-old Tabitha Emmanuel, from Gwoza Local
 Government Area of Borno, while sharing her experience stressed that 
access to quality education for all should be of concern to everyone.<br>
 Emmanuel said that Nigerian societies cannot thrive when millions of 
children have no opportunity to access education that can make them 
productive members of their communities.<br> She said: “I recalled that 
sometime ago, Boko Haram sent a letter to my community directing that no
 girl should be sent to school.<br> “They later came and burnt my school
 and destroyed my village, killed many people, took women and abducted 
more than 200 girls into captivity.<br> “I was forced to stay at home for six months. My future became bleak and life became difficult.<br>
 “But as peace returned to the troubled North East, I was able to 
complete my primary and secondary school and I am looking forward to a 
brighter future.”<br> She pointed out that there are still huge number 
of girls and children who do not have access to quality education, and 
appealed to community leaders to recognised that children are important 
machinery in shaping a country’s future for greatness.<br> According to 
her, there must be collective effort to ensure that schools are safe, 
gender based and other barriers to girl child education are addressed.</p></div>

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<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></div>