• Ebonyi approves language day as stakeholders, educators proffer solutions
From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
Parents, guardians, children and stakeholders in the education and cultural circles in Ebonyi State have advocated for the sustenance of Igbo culture and traditions to save them from extinction.
The parents and stakeholders observed that the culture and tradition of the Igbo race are almost fading away and gradually being replaced with foreign ones.
They lamented that parents no longer give their children Igbo names or speak indigenous language to them let alone dressing their children in Igbo attire.
At a cultural day at Oak Special School, Abakaliki, the state capital, the parents and guardians called for concerted efforts to restore the Igbo culture and tradition and their lost glory for future generations and posterity.
Addressing the crowd during the event, the state Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Ifeanyi Ogbuewu, blamed parents on the situation of the Igbo culture today. He called on them to start early to begin to teach their children their culture and tradition so that they will grow with them and know them.
He said: “Our parents should do the needful because everything depends on them. They should start when the child is small to teach them our language, teach them our culture and let them know the significance of our cultural activities so that they will grow with it because these days, if you ask a child what a festival is, the child will say he is don’t know.
“Ask the child his name, the child will say Charity Benjamin and it is not our names, it is not our culture. So, we should do the needful by ensuring that our children know who they are from birth, from the beginning.
“We should stop giving our children white people’s names. The white people came with their own culture, confused us into believing their culture and throwing our own away.
“We are thinking of bringing into the curriculum, cultural education and also introducing children cultural and drama group in schools. Ebonyi State government has approved every Wednesday as language day; every Wednesday is our language day.”
Mrs. Vera Okereke, proprietress of Oak Special School, said she observed that pupils and students of the school are bearing English names all through without native names attached in their names, describing it as worrisome.
She also observed that the pupils and students cannot speak their native languages correctly and called on parents and guardians to go back to the drawing board and begin to teach their children their indigenous languages.
Okereke noted that the school has started correcting the situation by making sure that Igbo language is taught in the school three times in a week like English language so that the students and pupils will begin to learn the language.
She also said that the school has made it compulsory that every teacher should be appearing on native attire every Friday with morning devotion conducted for the students and pupils in Igbo language.
The proprietress said: “I have personally observed that our culture is going down. Parents have been registering their children in my school with English names both first and surnames and I have been advising and encouraging them to bear their traditional name, their family name.
“I also observed that my pupils and students can’t hear or speak Igbo language and when I noticed this I declared that Igbo language should be coming three times in a week in our teaching and learning time table instead of two times. So, we insisted that Igbo language should be taught three times in a week they way English language is being taught.
“Not only this, we made it compulsory that every teacher in this school must be appearing on native attire every Friday and our morning devotion must be conducted with Igbo language every Friday.
“I have been telling parents to be speaking indigenous language in their homes immediately their children return from school every day because parents have not done much to promote our languages. Our parents these days speak English language at home for their children and this has affected our students and pupils.”
The Headmistress of the school, Mrs. Ngozi Nwambe, said the cultural carnival will encourage children to value their cultural heritage.She called on parents to start speaking their native dialects to their children at home to enable them learn the languages and save the Igbo culture from extinction.
She said: “Our culture our pride: This event will help our children to value their culture and heritage which contributes to a positive self concept and equally give them a sense of identity and belonging. It’s often said that language is the key to identity.
“ It is our culture, our values and our experience that make up our identity. This programme will remind us of the importance of understanding and respecting different cultures.
“My amiable parents, I strongly suggest speaking the native language most at times at home as the kids will learn English and not only to speak their indigenous language you equally owe that language to them.”
Some parents, including Mrs. Chinelo Okoro, Uchenna Eluu and Patrick Otu, commended the school for organizing the cultural carnival and called for its sustenance to preserve the Igbo culture and tradition.
There were cultural displays by parents and students from the three senatorial zones of the state during the event which was well attended.