Yoruba language
bill: Lagos schools risk N500, 000
fine,
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)
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