RSNC To Support Dev Of Indigenous Languages

The General Manager of the Rivers State Newspaper Corporation, publisher of The Tide group of Newspapers, Mr  Celestine Ogolo, has pledged the commitment of the corporation to partner with the Rivers State Readers Project in the development of indigenous languages in the state.

Mr. Ogolo  gave the pledge during a courtesy call on him by the Executive Secretary of the Rivers State Readers Project, Dr Tony Enyia.

The General Manager described the language development project as an endevour that would project the true identity of Rivers people, and assured that the corporation would make meaningful contributions towards the success of the project.

He commended the Executive Secretary for the passion and dexterity on the project and urged collective efforts towards redeeming the drift in the development of the various languages of  Rivers people.

The General Manager decried a situation where most Rivers people could barely speak their mother tongue, and expressed confidence that the project would be a success.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the Rivers State Readers Project, Dr Tony Enyia, had said that they were in the corporation to seek the support and partnership of The Tide in the implementation of the Rivers State language development project.

The Executive Secretary said the main  objective of the Rivers State Readers Project, was to make available a series of “readers” for use in  primary and secondary schools in all local languages of the State.

He explained that the objective was in line with the National Policy on Education, and would enable children to learn  their own mother tongue  for cultural sustainability.

He pointed out  that  the project had a 5-phase work plan of orthographies  development, curricular development, language books production, language teachers training and language teachers development.

According to the executive secretary, part of  measures of achieving the objective was through the implementation of the Rivers State Education (Teaching of Indigenous language) Law 2003″ which stipulates that teaching of  indigenous languages be made compulsory in all pre-primary, primary, and junior secondary schools in the state.

He said the law also made it mandatory for such languages to be part of the school curriculum, while teachers were expected to be trained on certificate courses on local languages spoken in the state.

Dr Enyia also disclosed that the project would be carrying out an exhibition on indigenous languages, books, movies, music CDs, and DVDs, in Oia Thursday in line with the UNESCO International  Mother-Tongue Day celebration 2013.

Taneh Beemene