Lagos- A retired Director of Education in Lagos State, Mrs Pauline Chuke, has called for teaching of French in senior secondary schools to create more awareness of French as Nigeria’s second official language.
Chuke, the Vice-Principal of the Lagos State Senior Model College, Ojo, Lagos, until her retirement on Monday, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
She spoke to NAN on the sideline of her retirement ceremony at the statutory age of 60 years.
The French Language teacher said that there was the need to recognise French Language as the country’s second official language.
Chuke said that teaching of French Language only in junior secondary schools had not enabled such recognition.
The retired director urged governments to encourage teaching of foreign languages, especially French, through training of teachers.
She said that adequate training of teachers would equip them properly to impart knowledge of the languages to students who could make a career in them.
She regretted that some parents discouraged their children from studying languages, and advised such parents not to stop their children.
‘’They do not encourage their children to learn foreign languages because they do not know the essence.
‘’French is my life; being a French Language teacher, there are lots of difficulties; parents have been one of the challenges,’’ she told NAN.
She appealed to parents to encourage their children to learn French Language since “Nigeria is surrounded by French speaking countries’’.
The teacher frowned at the negative influence of social media on some students who, she said, could no longer focus on studies due to attention on social media.
She said that students’ exposure to the internet had made some of them to believe that life was easy, thereby removing zeal, hard work and dedication from them.
She commended Lagos State Government for efforts in developing its public school system.
Chuke said that the government had invested much into improved facilities.
She also thanked the government for paying retirees’ entitlements within the first six months of disengagement, noting that it had removed fear of retirement from workers.
She expressed satisfaction at her retirement after teaching French Language for 29 years before her appointment as a vice-principal.
Chuke had taught French Language in seven schools before her appointment as the Vice-Principal of the Lagos State Senior Model College, Ojo, in 2008. (NAN)
