The Nigerian government has unveiled a plan to encourage the teaching of local languages to primary school students rather than English.
On Wednesday, Education Minister Adamu Adamu informed the media that the National Language Policy, a new framework, had been given the go-ahead to go into effect.
It states that the first six years of primary school instruction must be delivered in the student’s mother tongue.
Nigeria’s official language is English, which is also the language of instruction at all educational institutions.
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But local languages will now take the centre stage, with the education minister saying “pupils learn much better” when they are taught in their own mother tongue.
He acknowledged that implementing the new policy would be challenging because it would “require a lot of work to develop materials to teach and get the teachers”.
Another challenge is the number of languages spoken in Nigeria – more than 600.
It’s not immediately clear when the government will start implementing the new system.
The Nigerian authorities suggest they will first provide teaching materials and teachers for the local languages before the implementation in earnest.
