[lg policy] Nigeria: Foundation to promote use of indigenous languages in schools

[Harold Schiffman]

Foundation to promote use of indigenous languages in schools

National News Nov 24, 2009 By Benjamin Njoku

Worried by the declining use of indigenous languages, especially the
Yoruba, D.O Fagunwa Foundation, has announced its commitment to
promote the use of indigenous languages in schools in line with the
National Policy on Education, especially in the South West. At a press
briefing yesterday in Lagos, on the D.O. Fagunwa Memorial Lecture
billed to hold on Monday, December 7, Chairman of the Foundation, Mrs.
Ibukunade Sijuwola, disclosed the foundation’s plan to ensure a
re-introduction of the study of Yoruba Literature into the school
curriculum.

According to Sijuwola, “schools in the country today are not
implementing the policy which made it mandatory for children of
nursery school age up till primary three to be instructed in their
mother tongues in schools. A situation, where our young ones cannot
communicate in their mother tongues effectively, adding that the
foundation is taking steps to see that the use of the indigenous
languages as contained in the National Policy on Education (section 2
paragraphs 14C on page 12) is fully adopted in Yoruba land. We hope to
call a stakeholders’ conference as soon as possible to discuss the way
forward.”

On the annual lecture, Sijuwola said Professor Bisi Ogunsina, a
professor of Yoruba Language, Literature and Culture, at the
University of Ado-Ekiti, Ondo State would deliver this year’s  lecture
on Yoruba Philosophy in the Novels of D.O. Fagunwa: Implication for
Indigenous Language Teaching in Nigeria. Mrs Sijuwola, noted that
Professor Ogunsina would be “looking at Fagunwa’s works as it relates
to the youths, its relevance as a veritable tool in improving the
usage and understanding of the language.”  On his part, Chairman,
Coordinating Committee of the Lecture Series, Chief Olu Falomo said,
the lecture series, which is in its third year, would feature
“intellectuals who will be discussing problems that affect all of us.
On the choice of the guest lecturer, Falomo said, the guest lecturer
Professor Ogunsina carried out a comprehensive study on the works of
D.O Fagunwa.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/11/24/foudation-to-promote-use-of-indigenous-languages-in-schools/
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