ASSESSMENT OF GOVERNMENT'S SUPPORT IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE YORUBA LANGUAGE POLICY IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN SOUTH-WESTERN NIGERIA

The instrument of communication between teachers and pupils at all educational levels is language. Therefore, effective and efficient teaching, and learning will not take place without a viable language of instruction. It was stipulated in the Nigerian Policy on Education that the learners’ mother tongue should be utilised as a medium of instruction (pre-primary to primary 3) and taught as a subject at both primary (primary 1 to 6) school levels. Also, the Nigerian Federal government has promised to adequately supply the necessary resources for the implementation of this policy. Therefore, this study assessed the Nigerian government’s support for the implementation of the language policy in primary schools. Purposive sampling techniques were employed to sample ninety (90) primary school educational stakeholders from Oyo State (one of the Yoruba-speaking states), Nigeria. The questionnaire was utilized to elicit information from the respondents. A simple percentage was employed to analyse the responses. The result showed that Nigeria is operating a passive language policy in primary schools. It indicates that the learners’ mother tongue as a medium of instruction at the lower primary school was not implemented in Oyo State. Hence, Nigerian government support in terms of provision of trained teachers, instructional resources, creation of awareness, and adequate monitoring are all abortive. Therefore, it was recommended that the Nigerian government should adequately support the mother-tongue policy in primary schools. Mother tongue helps the development of learners’ cognitive domain, and it is the basis of their reasoning and the expression of thoughts.