In a determined effort to restore the lost cultural value and preserve cultural heritage of the Yoruba people, Lagos State government has expressed its readiness to make the teaching of Yoruba language compulsory in all its public schools beginning from primary education to junior secondary schools JSS3 across the state.
The state government equally noted that the imposition of western culture and language on Nigerian children has done a lot of damage to the rich local cultural heritage of the Yoruba people, which it noted has made Yoruba sons and daughter lost all the cultural values and aesthetics in their local language.
In order to arrest and stop this ugly trends, Lagos State Governor Mr Akinwunmi Ambode has stated that henceforth, the teaching of Yoruba Language in all the public schools in the state beginning from primary to junior secondary schools JSS3 is compulsory so as to enable the region regain its lost cultural value and enable their children to be in tune with the norms and cultural value abound in their language.
Govenror Akinwunmi Ambode who was speaking at the stakeholders forum on the need to make Yoruba Language a compulsory teaching subject in all schools in the state organised by the Lagos State House of Assembly at Academy hall, Agidingbi, Ikeja Lagos, noted that it is important for growing up children not only to learn the language of their environment, but also the culture and people’s general way of life, adding that it is very important for every Yoruba child to be able to speak the language very fluently while he/ she should be enriched with adequate cultural norms of the people so as to guarantee a responsible life in the future.
Governor Ambode, who was represented by his deputy, Dr Idiat Oluranti Adebule commended members of the state house of Assembly for their efforts at ensuring that Yoruba language is not relegated to the background, she noted that their effort would further help the state government in the implementation of its policy on the teaching of Yoruba language, adding that the house would help to make appropriate legislations that would back up government efforts at making Yoruba language a compulsory subject in all schools in the state.
The Governor who expressed reservations that government previous efforts at making the teaching of the language compulsory in all schools in the state are being frustrated by proprietors of private schools , expressed optimism that the State House of Assembly will do the needful to make the dream come to reality, thanking all the traditional rulers and other notable Yoruba indigenes for gracing the occasion , adding that with their collective will and efforts, the goal of restoring the cultural values of the Yoruba people of Nigeria would be realized.
Earlier in his address, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Mudasiru Obasa called on parents and teachers to ensure that Yoruba language remains the medium of communication to children and pupils at home and in schools, adding that the efforts would help growing up children to learn both the language and its cultural values.
He called on the state government to set a day aside in the schools calendar in which Yoruba language would be the spoken language in all the public schools, urging government to recruit more Yoruba language teachers to promote the teaching of the language in public schools.
While commending traditional institutions for maintaining peace in the region, he charged them as custodians of culture to use their influence and respect to help propagate the use of Yoruba language in all programmes and activities organised by the Yoruba people.