Stakeholders express mixed feelings over teaching science in native language

The Minister of Science and Technology Dr Ogbonnaya Onu recently said Nigeria still has a long way to go in Science and Technology. According to the minister, economic growth and development will continue to stare the country in the face if science, technology and innovation are not given serious attention. He said part of the […]

The Minister of Science and Technology Dr Ogbonnaya Onu recently said Nigeria still has a long way to go in Science and Technology. According to the minister, economic growth and development will continue to stare the country in the face if science, technology and innovation are not given serious attention.

He said part of the efforts being made to make science and tech the engine of Nigeria’s economy is the proposition to make students appreciate sciences in schools. Pupils in the primary schools across the country should be taught sciences and mathematics in local languages so that they could grasp the subjects very well and have sound footings in them, he believes.

Speaking on Friday during an interaction with pupils of Ekulu Primary School, Enugu, Onu said the move would make pupils and students get more interested in science subjects.

He was at the school to present computer sets and other science kits donated by the Ministry of Science and Technology to the school.

A survey on some great countries of the world revealed that they used indigenous languages at very early stages of their education, the minister told the pupils.

Onu said, “The Ministry of Science and Technology is worried over the low interest in mathematics and the science subjects, so we are working on plans to teach mathematics and sciences in indigenous languages in primary schools.

“These pupils grow up with their indigenous languages at home before they start going to school, where they are now taught in foreign languages. So, we have observed that there is a challenge to understand the foreign languages first before they could even start understanding what they are being taught.

“We believe that this plan will help our students to understand mathematics and the science subjects, and also promote the application of science and technology for national development.”

 “Our ministry has looked around the world how nations attained greatness and all the countries that are doing very well use indigenous languages at very early age in the teaching of science and mathematics.

“In Nigeria, we just have to do that. We are at the levels of discussions now because it is something we need to work with other relevant ministries,” he said. The minister said that the process would involve strengthening and further development of indigenous languages to accommodate emerging science vocabularies.

He said such action would also save local languages from extinction.

Speaking with Daily Trust on the issue, the National President of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Michael Olukoya, said the idea is a good one but not realizable because there is no preparedness or seriousness on the part of government.

He said, “With the proposed teaching of science subjects in indigenous language, has the government figured out what the indigenous languages are; if it is Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba? And how many teachers have been employed as the indigenous language teachers. As an educator, I have not seen any preparedness on the part of the government.” The NUT Chairman in Gwagwalada, Abuja, Comrade Idris Kehinde Ismail, said the move would help in raising the fallen standard of education in the country, especially at primary and secondary schools levels.

“It has been discovered that it is very difficult for pupils to understand sciences but if indigenous languages are used at the beginning they will understand the subjects; they will understand the rudiments,” he said.

However, the Rector of Akawe Torkula College of Advanced and Professional Studies (ATCAPS) Makurdi, Dr. Tyotom Keghku, said the proposed introduction of teaching sciences in Nigerian indigenous languages in schools is a noble idea whose time is not ripe yet.

 A member of the Cross River State House of Assembly who chairs special committee on private schools, Hilary Bisong, said the planned introduction of indigenous languages to teach sciences will not make any impact. He also said the policy would not be sustained after Onu leaves office.

“Nigeria has too many languages that will make the minister’s idea unworkable. There are also vast numbers of Nigerian students who do not speak or understand the three national languages. Most of the teachers themselves do not understand these languages and have not written books in local languages.

“Have books on chemistry, biology, mathematics, physics etc which are written in English language been translated into Nigerian languages? So how will the teachers teach the students? There may be advantages but I think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages,” Bisong said.

A student of the University of Calabar, Marian Bassey Akpan, said she would have problems with such proposition. This is because she understands very little of her native language.

Cross RIver State chairman of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Godwin Ayeni, said, “Learning in one’s indigenous language has huge inherent advantages as assimilation would be faster. I therefore encourage same.”

A senior accountancy lecturer at the University of Calabar, Mr Bassey Bassey, said the proposition will rather help experts to translate books into local languages.

Prof David Irefin, former dean and head of department of Economics, University of Maiduguri, strongly disagreed with Dr. Onu on the issue.

He said unlike other countries that have one national language, Nigeria got many languages, and the country is yet to accept one singular language.

Prof Irefin said the country does not have many teachers who are bilingual. He said the country may not be able to sustain the minister’s proposal.

An Associate Professor, Ademu Wada of the University of Jos said the suggestion by the minister was a bad idea that will only create confusion and localize Nigerian students to a particular environment.

 “We are supposed to encourage science development and doing it in different dialects will create confusion.

“For instance, what is test tube in Igala language, Hausa or Igbo? No science equipment is in a particular language, they are all in English language and what happens to our students when they get out of the boundaries of Nigeria? Will they continue to practice science in their local dialects? I believe it is a bad idea and I oppose it,” he said.

Another lecturer with the Department of Mass Communication at Kaduna Polytechnic, Ahmed Balarabe Sa’id, described the minister’s proposal as healthy because before the colonial rule, the traditional form of learning made more impact in local languages.

“It is healthy except for the modality to which it will be put to effect.  In the overall picture, if it is something workable, I think it is healthy. The early people who learnt Arabic in northern Islamic societies were able to do so because the scholars then correlated the curricular to the local Hausa language,” he said.

Ibrahim Adam Tudun Doki, a former Sokoto coordinator, Civil  Society Action Coalition on Education for All, CSACEFA said, “The idea of teaching science in local languages is a welcome one and a very good one. As it is now science makes use of a lot of borrowed language which makes it difficult for some students. Using local language will make it easier and encourage more students to go for it,”he said.

The Principal Secretary of Nigerian Union of Teachers Kwara state chapter Mr. Ola Idris said the move wa a step in right direction because it will encourage learning.