The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO) has said that the use of indigenous languages for education had a
major impact on the quality of learning processes and outcomes.
The UNESCO Regional Director, Prof. Hassana Alidou, stated
this in Abuja on Wednesday at a workshop to pre-test an action research
guidebook in multilingual and multicultural contexts.
The theme of the workshop is tagged ``Action Research to
improve youth and adult literacy’’.
Alidou said the guidebook on action research would
facilitate involvement and empowerment of community, mass literacy and adult education
centres in the country.
She noted that the reality of linguistic diversity and
cultural differences required people to be competent in several languages.
"In 1996, the world commission on culture and development
mandated by UNESCO raised a concern that culture should be an integral part in
policy making to achieve social and economic development and wellbeing of the
people.
"Culture shapes our thinking, imagining and behaviour, and
its importance has been underestimated.
"In the agenda of education, development and culture are
going to be intertwined in order to account for diverse learning and
development needs of all people,’’ Alidou said.
She said that the use of languages in education would make
people to communicate appropriately in different domains of life such as
locally, regionally, nationally and across borders.
The Programme Specialist, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong
Learning, Ms Christine Glanz, said that the programme to improve youth and
adult literacy had been incorporated in 15 countries including West Africa.
According to her, sharing international ideas and
experiences on the quality of adult literacy through the use of language would
go a long way to minimise illiteracy rate in country.
Glanz noted that the workshop was aimed at developing a
guideline that would support people around the world to build their capacity in
learning.
"We have incorporated ideas from a minimum of 15 countries
like Asian region, Indonesia, South Africa, Mali and Senegal.
"If we want to reduce illiteracy rate, then we need to get
people engaged, and support them in improving the quality of their lives as
well as their literacy programmes,’’ she said.
Glanz, however, called for collaboration to develop a
language that would be used for learning in a multilingual and multicultural
context.
NAN
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