The Fafunwa Educational Foundation (FEF) has commended the Federal Government on the policy of making the mother tongue compulsory in Nigeria’s primary schools.
Its founder, Prof. Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa, former Minister of Education, was a champion of the adoption of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction in Nigerian primary schools.
Fafunwa, who died in 2010, encouraged the FEF to organize a series of conferences to advance the case for adopting mother tongue in childhood education. His unrelenting commitment to that cause was borne of his conviction that students become more attuned, confident and grounded when they are taught concepts in the organic medium of their first language.
Fafunwa pioneered the production of a science programme at the primary education level in the country, and chaired the Fafunwa Study Group on the funding of primary education. The group’s report led to the creation in 1987 of Nigeria’s National Primary Education Commission (NPEC).
He wrote that primary school education in the mother tongue would “deliver students from the shackles of colonialism, allow for effective and meaningful communication between the teachers and students within and outside the classroom and also promote the development of mature judgment by the pupils.”
To him, education must be relevant to the needs of society. In recognition of the profound cognitive benefits of instruction in the mother tongue, the board and members of the FEF resolved that their founder’s cause must be sustained.
Since Prof. Fafunwa’s death, the foundation has held numerous seminars and workshops that offered road maps for integrating mother tongue into early education in Nigeria.
Mrs. Doris Fafunwa, who chair of the FEF, said she was heartened to learn that the Federal Government had finally adopted a policy long proposed by her late husband.
She hoped that policymakers, teachers, parents, students and other stakeholders would approach the implementation of the new policy with requisite rigour, wisdom and investment of time and resources.
“If properly implemented, the policy is bound to help preserve Nigerian culture and save many indigenous languages from the threat of extinction,” said Mrs. Fafunwa.
She called on Nigerians to be proud of their rich cultures, urging parents to cultivate the habit of interacting with their children and wards in indigenous language instead of leaving the implementation of mother tongue education entirely to teachers.
Mrs. Fafunwa added that members of the FEF were willing to assist policy makers and teachers in making a success of the new policy.