EFFECTS OF ABOLITION OF THE MOTHER TONGUE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION ON THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN EARLY PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KANO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the effects of the abolition of the mother tongue medium of instruction on the quality of education in early primary schools in Kano State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. Four research objectives and corresponding research questions guided this study. The population consisted of all primary school teachers in public primary schools in Kano State. The total population is 46,520 teachers’. A multistage sampling technique, including stratified sampling and purposeful sampling, was used to select teachers. A sample size of 300 teachers was selected. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Effects of Abolition of Mother Tongue Medium of Instruction Questionnaire (EAMTMIQ).” The instrument was validated by experts. Reliability was determined using Cronbach’s Alpha, and the reliability coefficient yielded 0.8. The researcher administered the questionnaires personally with the assistance of trained research assistants. The data collected were analyzed using the mean and standard deviation. The findings revealed that the abolition of mother tongue instruction negatively affects the quality of education in early primary schools. Also the findings revealed that abolishing mother tongue instruction undermine learning effectiveness, comprehension, and educational quality in early primary education. It was concluded that mother tongue instruction facilitates deeper understanding of concepts and enhances quality education in early primary school.  Based on the findings recommendations were made that teachers should adopt bilingual teaching approaches that combine mother tongue and English to enhance comprehension, also government should reinstate the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in early primary education as recommended in the National Policy on Education.