Yoruba language bill: Lagos schools risk N500, 000fine, closure for non-compliance
ON September 28, 2017 9:50 PM / IN Just
Human , News / BY Adekunle
Lagos – The Lagos State House of Assembly is
proposing a fine of N500, 000 or closure of any
school that flouts its proposed law on compulsory
teaching and learning of Yoruba Language, when
passed.
“A Bill for a Law To Provide for the Preservation and
Promotion of the Use of Yoruba Language and for
Connected Purposes’’ before the House seeks to
make Yoruba language a core subject in schools.
Presenting a report on the bill on Thursday, the
Chairman of the House Committee on Education, Mr
Lanre Ogunyemi, said that it would enhance the
preservation of the language.
According to him, the bill also recommends the
translation of all the laws in the state into Yoruba
language in order to get to its target.
The Assembly had previously made moves to make
teaching and learning of Yoruba Language
compulsory in both public and private schools in the
state.
The House said that such step had become
imperative to meet its target of preserving and
promoting the indigenous language of the South West
from going into extinction.
The bill states further that all state- owned tertiary
institutions should incorporate the use of Yoruba
Language in the General Studies (GNS) curriculum.
It reads in part: “The use of Yoruba Language shall
be an acceptable means of communication between
individuals, establishment, corporate entities and
government in the state if so desired by the
concerned.
“Any school that fails to comply with the provisions
of Section 2 of the law commits an offence and is
liable on first violation to issuance of warning and on
subsequent violation be closed down and also pay a
fine of N500, 000.”
Ogunyemi later told newsmen that the committee
might amend a provision in the bill which
recommended that it should take effect after two
years of its passage.
According to him, most of the lawmakers want the
bill to become effective immediately after it is signed
into law by Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode.
The lawmaker added that the Assembly was
passionate about Yoruba Language which
necessitated its adoption for parliamentary debate on
Thursdays.
“The National Policy on Education provides that the
language of an environment should be spoken in
schools, which is why Yoruba Language is being
adopted for Lagos schools.
“After the passage of the bill into law, it would
become compelling for schools to speak Yoruba
Language. We want to preserve the language for
generations yet unborn,’’ he said.
On compliance by private schools after passage, the
lawmaker said that schools owners were part of the
bill and that they were at meetings the committee
held across the education districts in the state.
He added that private schools owners would have no
choice than to key into the project as they have been
properly mobilised, adding that the state Ministry of
Education would ensure compliance.
On the translation of the laws into Yoruba Language,
Ogunyemi said that this was to ensure that those that
are literate in Yoruba language were carried along in
the scheme of things in the state.
The Speaker of the House, Mr Mudashiru Obasa,
commended the committee, noting that the bill
should take effect once signed into law by the state
governor.
NAN reports that the House accepted the report as
its resolution as the bill awaits third reading. (NAN)
Vanguardngr
Yoruba Language Bill: Lagos Schools Risk N500k Fine, Closure For Non-Compliance.
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