Nigeria Content Online

Nigerian Evagrin
Rhymes, a teaching aid in the Yoruba and English languages in VCD and
book formats, is set to go into use in Osun State schools. Osun State
governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has approved the innovative and compact
teaching aid, for use by Public Primary and Secondary schools in the
state.

Mr. Aregbesola made
the announcement at the opening ceremony of the Osun State Education
Summit, held in the state capital, Osogbo, on February 7. He said that
the decision to approve the new educational programme is in line with
the vision of his administration to embrace innovative ideas aimed at
adopting mother tongues.

The move is one of
many intended initiatives to boost Osun’s investment in education and
to adopt a new road-map policy for the sector, modeled after the
defunct Western Region education policy of the late Obafemi Awolowo.

In a statement,
Hakeem Adenekan, Group Project Coordinator of Evagrin Konsepts,
commended Mr. Aregbesola’s decision for aligning his administration’s
vision with the global standard. This, he noted, is with the intention
to merge education with mother tongues by adopting and promising to
distribute Nigerian Evagrin Rhymes in books and audio-visual format
across all schools in Osun State.

“At Evagrin, what
we have done is to bring Nigerian languages back from the brink of
total extinction by documenting them in VCD and book format in three
key Nigerian Languages – Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa – while other languages
are in advanced stage of production,” Adenekan explained.

He added that, “in the last 51 years, this is the first time any
Nigerian group or individuals will be documenting Nigerian rhymes in
Audio-Visual form both in VCD and DVD with its replica in book format.
“In the 50s and after Nigeria’s independence, these rhymes were just
oral songs almost forgotten. With the collapse of the public school
system, they all disappeared.” He added that the Evagrin Rhymes
compendium is one of several projects undertaken by Evagrin Konsepts
aimed at achieving the following: educational intervention, language
resuscitation, sustenance of cultural heritage and fostering of
national consciousness and integration, especially in children.