‘What is the purpose of education?
As educator Maria Bucan wisely expressed, ‘Our job as teachers is not to put greatness in a child, for the child is already born with his or her greatness, but to elucidate it’. This truth sits permanently on the throne of my heart. Education, to me, is not the mechanical loading of facts or the pursuit of grades; it is the gentle unveiling of the genius that already resides in every child. Yet, in a nation as culturally abundant as Nigeria, blessed with more than five hundred languages and a living heritage woven from countless stories and worldviews, I see the Federal Government’s newly announced English only policy as a troubling stride in the wrong direction.
Announced by Minister Dr Tunji Alausa at a British Council conference, the policy seeks to solve failing English scores by forcing students into total immersion from their earliest years. But I am reminded of the Yoruba proverb, ‘Ọmọ tó bá sọ ilé nù, ó sọ àpò ìyà kò’. Its meaning is profound: ‘A child who forgets their home, ancestry or lineage has positioned him/herself for suffering/humiliation’. In other words, when a child loses the language and memory of where they come from, they lose the compass that guides who they can become.
To me, the policy addresses a symptom rather than the true disease. It assumes that English proficiency is the path to excellence, ignoring the deeper problem: an education system that often fails to connect teaching with the lived realities of children. When you cut a tree from its roots and expect it to flourish, you practice hope, not horticulture. The danger is clear. A policy like this severs children from their cultural foundation, weakens the depth of their understanding and risks choking the creativity that Nigeria desperately needs in this age of technology and innovation.
As I often teach, the purpose of education is not to create parrots of foreign languages but to produce thinkers who can confront real problems creatively and courageously. An English only policy might produce fluent speakers but shallow thinkers. It may produce students who speak a global language but struggle to generate original ideas within it.
My philosophical stance: Education as self actualisation, not linguistic gatekeeping
Education is not a ladder to climb but a mirror that reveals the greatness already within. Aristotle believed education cultivated the virtues of the soul. Aristotle viewed it as drawing forth the soul’s innate virtues; John Dewey saw it as the fruit of meaningful experiences shaped by the learner’s environment. In a multilingual nation like ours, education must be rooted in the child’s world of proverbs, folktales and familiar rhythms. Anything else is like teaching a fish to fly and wondering why it struggles.
Research from UNESCO supports my view, showing that children learn best when concepts are first grasped in their mother tongue, building a scaffold for second-language acquisition (UNESCO, 2016). Without this foundation, students memorize formulas without comprehension, stifling the critical thinking essential for innovation.
When a Yoruba child learns physics in English, the child might recite Newton’s laws perfectly but struggle to see how they apply to the dynamics of communal work or the everyday realities of local life. And when learning becomes removed from meaning, creativity suffocates. The question I always pose is simple: Do we want students who speak beautiful English or students who become the best versions of themselves? For me, the answer is clear. Meaning must take precedence over mimicry.
The Baba Fafunwa legacy: A Nigerian beacon I champion
Nigeria does not need to look abroad for inspiration. We have a home grown model that once lit the entire continent. The Ife Primary Education Project, led by the visionary Prof. Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa between 1963 and 1978, stands as one of the greatest experiments in African educational history. For six years, Nigerian children were taught using Yoruba as the medium of instruction, with English introduced gradually along the way (Fafunwa, 1990, Bamgbose, 2000).
The results were nothing short of revolutionary. These children outperformed their peers taught entirely in English both in their mother tongue and in English itself. Their comprehension of mathematics, science and social concepts was deeper and more durable because the foundation was laid in familiar linguistic soil. This project eventually influenced the 1977 National Policy on Education, which recognised the importance of mother tongue instruction. Today’s English only policy reverses that wisdom, like a farmer uprooting the best seedling and calling it progress.
Fafunwa (1990) warned that blindly adopting foreign educational lenses would lead to what he called “epistemological dis orientation,” a kind of cognitive confusion that makes learners strangers to their own heritage. His findings remain relevant. From language to logic to creativity, mother tongue instruction strengthens rather than weakens intellectual development. In a nation where technology now contributes more than fifteen percent to GDP, we cannot afford to strangle the roots of innovation.
Global vvidence: Why I advocate for multilingualism
UNESCO has spent decades studying language and learning. Its findings align with the intuitions and experiences of countless African educators. Globally, millions of children fail academically not because they are dull but because they are taught in unfamiliar languages. In communities where mother tongue instruction is embraced early, students read better, think better and continue longer in school.
Evidence from South Africa shows that children who first learn in their home language perform dramatically better in English in later years. In Tanzania similar patterns emerge. Children taught in their indigenous languages engage more deeply and understand scientific concepts more fully. In Ethiopia where mother tongue instruction extends for up to eight years children consistently outperform their peers in national examinations and drop out of school far less often. Even my own educational journey confirms these truths. I recall struggling with foreign authored physics textbooks filled with abstract, culturally distant examples until P.N. Okeke’s Nigerian centred text opened my eyes. Suddenly, physics was no longer a foreign visitor. It became a familiar neighbour, speaking in the language of yams, markets and everyday mechanics. Local relevance is the mother of understanding.
Innovation powerhouses: Why I look to India and China
The argument that mother tongue instruction weakens global competitiveness collapses when confronted with reality. India with its remarkable three language formula produces some of the world’s most versatile thinkers. Students learn in their regional languages while also studying Hindi and English. The result is a society rich in conceptual clarity and linguistic flexibility. This policy has produced the backbone of India’s two hundred billion dollar technology industry.
China offers another profound lesson. Mandarin remains the unquestioned medium of learning even as the nation aggressively encourages English as a subject. Today China is on track to have the largest population of English speakers in the world, not because it teaches physics in English but because its students think deeply in Mandarin first. Their technological breakthroughs from Huawei to Alibaba are born not from abandoned roots but from nourished identities. They innovate globally because they understand locally.
Bilingualism: My case for creativity and cognitive brilliance
Bilingual and multilingual children enjoy what psychologists call cognitive flexibility. They switch between mental frames with ease. They display stronger divergent and convergent thinking. They hold conflicting ideas without confusion and resolve complex problems with deeper creativity. Research shows that even kindergarten pupils who grow up bilingual demonstrate significantly higher creativity scores than their monolingual peers (Folke-Hendrickson et al., 2024; Leikin & Tovli, 2014; Leikin, 2013).
This is not just brain science. It is common sense. A child who navigates two worlds of meaning possesses twice the imaginative strength. In Singapore this multilingual advantage has become a fuel for innovation, helping the nation consistently rank among the most innovative societies on earth.
Nigeria, already struggling with a thirty percent primary school dropout rate, cannot afford policies that add linguistic pressure to an already heavy burden. An English only system risks producing fluent speakers who lack conceptual clarity, just as it risks deepening educational inequality for children whose homes are not English speaking.
My call to action: PR, policy and the future we must build
As I argued in my article on how public relations can inspire quality education for nation building, PR professionals must not remain neutral bystanders in national policy debates. We are strategic advocates. We give voice to stakeholders. We help governments see the human stories behind the numbers. It is time to mobilise this power to champion mother tongue based multilingual education in Nigeria.
Our path forward is clear. Revive the Fafunwa model. Use the mother tongue in the early years of schooling. Teach English powerfully as a subject rather than using it as the medium of instruction. Train teachers in bilingual pedagogy. Develop indigenous textbooks. Anchor learning in meaning while building bridges to global competence.
The purpose of education is not polished accents but illuminated minds. Not borrowed tongues but awakened intellects. Not imitated brilliance but authentic innovation. The genius in our children is not waiting to be replaced. It is waiting to be revealed.
Nigeria stands at an educational crossroads. We must choose the path that nourishes identity, strengthens understanding and unlocks the kind of creativity that can build a powerful future. Multilingualism is not a burden. It is a blessing. It is not a barrier. It is a bridge. And with it we can raise a generation of thinkers who do not merely speak well but think well. A generation ready to build the Nigeria of tomorrow.
For in the end, as the Yoruba say, ‘Bi omode ba subu, a wo iwaju. Bi agba ba subu, a wo ehin’, which means, ‘When a child falls, he looks forward. When an elder falls, he looks back’. This policy is our fall. May we look back with wisdom and move forward with purpose.
Ayodele is a distinguished and multiple award-winning strategic communication expert who specialises in ‘Message Engineering’. He helps Organizations, Brands and Leaders Communicate in a way that yields the desired outcome. He is the author of the seminal work, PR Case Studies; Mastering the Trade, and Dean of the the School of Impactful Communication. He can be reached via ishopr2015@gmail.com or +2348077932282 (WhatsApp only)
