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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Culture & Society

Nigeria's language schools: A breeding ground for unqualified instruction

From ThisDay · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

Opinion Sources not specified Context piece
  • Many language schools in Nigeria lack qualified teachers, leading to students receiving inadequate instruction and obtaining useless certificates.
  • The demand for foreign languages like German, Chinese, and Spanish has surged, creating opportunities for unscrupulous operators.
  • The author emphasizes the importance of proper qualifications and standards, referencing the Common European Framework for Languages (CEFRE), to combat the proliferation of substandard language education.

A surge in demand for foreign language education in Nigeria has created a lucrative market for unqualified individuals and substandard "language schools." The author recounts a personal experience where a niece seeking to study German for university admission was nearly enrolled in a school with teachers possessing only rudimentary knowledge of the language.

The absurdity of such a suggestion was not immediately obvious to the speaker, because he assumed that once you can speak a language to a certain degree, and can even write an essay or two in the language, you are not only good at it in every sense of the word, but that you could also teach it to another person.

— Okey IkechukwuReflecting on the misguided notion that basic language ability equates to teaching proficiency.

These schools, often operated by individuals with minimal linguistic proficiency, promise fluency but deliver little. Graduates from these institutions find their certificates are insufficient for international study, forcing them to undertake further language courses. This practice preys on the aspirations of Nigerians seeking to study abroad, particularly in countries like Germany, China, and Spain.

The author points to a past craze for learning Chinese, fueled by a desire to travel to China, as an example of how such trends can be exploited. Today, the demand for German, Chinese, and Spanish has intensified, leading to a proliferation of "language schools" across the country.

Today, such schools are all over the place, swindling gullible people and are being operated by unscrupulous individuals who employ language graduates with only elementary knowledge to teach others.

— Okey IkechukwuDescribing the current state of many language schools.

This situation highlights a critical gap: the absence of adequately trained and qualified teachers for these languages. The article questions the qualifications of school owners and their authorization to operate, suggesting that many are merely collecting fees without providing genuine educational value. The Common European Framework for Languages (CEFRE) is presented as a standard against which the proficiency of these schools and their instructors should be measured, with levels ranging from A1 (Beginner) to C2 (Mastery).

What are the qualifications of the owners of these language schools and who authorized their operations?

— Okey IkechukwuPosing critical questions about the legitimacy and standards of language schools.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ThisDay in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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