30th January, 2017
Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has said plans are underway to ensure that primary schools in the country teach mathematics and science subjects in indigenous languages, to encourage the application of science and technology in the country.
The minister 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.”
He added that some countries that were making advancement in science and technology, such as India, adopted a similar strategy by teaching mathematics and the science subjects in indigenous languages at the primary school level.
The minister, however, said there was a need to first develop the vocabulary of the indigenous languages before they could be used to teach the subjects effectively.
He said the Ministry of Science and Technology would collaborate with the Ministry of Education to develop the capacity of the local languages to serve as effective tools for teaching mathematics and science subjects.