Written and submitted by: Agha sunday Inya.

The former Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education, Professor Kabiru Isyaku, has advocated for the use of native languages in delivering educational instructions in order to encourage innovations that would lead to Nigerian development.

Delivering a keynote paper at the 2013 Annual National Conference of the Institute of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Tuesday, Isyaku argued that the prevailing use of English language in teaching was antithetical to innovation and impedes students’ ability to understand.

According to him, substantial part of students reasoning were usually lost in the process of trying to translate and express ideas generated with their indigenous languages to English language, a development he said had hindered many Nigerian students from injecting their own ideas and expressing their opinion in classroom.

He maintained that beside Singapore, no developed country in the world is using a borrowed language for instruction in their schools, and urged Nigerian government to take a look into the use of mother tongue in teaching.

Speaking on the topic; “teacher education in Nigeria: need for quality, relevance and sustainability in the a globalised world”, Isyaku said that poor implementation of educational policies, inclusion and infusion of extraneous contents into teaching curriculum, and the unwillingness of teachers to undertake further training were some of the banes of quality education in the country.

He therefore urged the government to step up its effort in the implementation of National Teachers Education Policy and also advised that teachers’ salaries and allowances should be put on ‘first charge’ in order to make teaching profession attractive.