Revealed: Why Chibok Girls Don’t Speak English

People have been asking questions why the school girls who were abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok community, Borno did not communicate in English in the interviews they granted.

escaped-abducted-girls

Some of the Chibok school girls who escaped

One of the freed schoolgirls, who did not give her name, disclosed that one of the reasons why they’ve been speaking hausa in the interviews is because of the trauma they are going through. They feel the Boko Haram insurgents are still watching them so they switch to Hausa, the dominant language in the North without realising it because the insurgents hate anything that has to do with Western education and the ability to speak the English language is an indication to them that one has Western education.

According to report, one of the reason for this situation is the poor standard of education and the quality of teachers in public schools across the state.

English language is secondary as most of the teachers in the rural areas and the students prefer speaking their own dialect either in the classrooms or during school hours.

It was also gathered from one of the teachers in the school, Mr. Amos Dawi, that Chibok and other schools in the state have no English or Mathematics teachers.

Rarely would students from JSS I to SS III have these teachers throughout their stay in school. In fact, most of these students are not taught English properly from year one to their final year,” he said.

He added that the students share a part of the blame as they are more devoted to farming than their education.

An educationist, Dr. James John attributed the poor quality of teachers to lack of training and retraining of the teachers by the Borno State Teaching Service Board.

A student named Yakubu Iliya said the teachers were to blame because if the ones who are qualified do not take their work seriously as they are hardly ever supervised by ministry officials.

The Chibok girls reflected the quality of teachers in public schools in Borno State. Over 95 per cent of students in public schools in the State cannot express themselves in English, although, their written English is reportedly better .

8 COMMENTS

  1. Leave BRSG alone, Benue state primary school teachers hv bn on strike 4 8mnths, kogi state primary schools hv bn on n off, educatn in public schools r mess n we all knw dis, juss few states like my dear Jigawa r really tryin hard to curb dis.

  2. Even when the educational standard of school in Nigeria was very good, the north have been known for their lack luster to english language. They’re not planning to mix up with the outside world and so to them it’s not necessary. The few that were opportuned to go to school earlier, after knowing the important of education, prefer their children alone to have it. The Hausa/Fulani tribe is the most wicked tribe in Nigeria. A tribe that deliberately refuse their feature leaders education just to creat an army of illitrates they can use any time they feel like. I will not be surprised to hear that the reason of their not having english teacher is to keep them uncivilised even if they go to school. Why must every thing about this region be retrogressive? Come to the south, english language is like mother tongue this days. Infact the era of pigin english is fast going into extinction. This region is always waiting on the federal government to do every thing for them. When my dad was working hard to pay his children school fees, The people from this region were busy marrying third and fourth wives and bringing into this world children they cannot feed not to talk of sending them to school. Imagine, in this 21st century, people from this part of Nigeria still have the believe that education is haram [evil]. This are the people pulling Nigeria backward….pls God save us from this people.

  3. 9ja is in great dilenma, in d north we hv bh, in d south mitants nd kidnapper in d middle we hv heartless nd incompetent leader(i.e in abuja) no peace of mind let alone gud education. chief of arm forces indeed all wil b history INSHA ALLAH.9JA wil remain as 1 insha aAllah

  4. PLS COME TO IMO AND SEE HOW TO TAKE CARE OF TEACHERS. IN IMO STATE EDUCATION IS NO ONE. IMO TEACHERS RECIEVES THEIR PAY BEFORE ANY FEDERAL WORKER. ROCHAS IS D ONLY PERSON DAT CAN FIX NIGERIAS EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS.

  5. PLS COME TO IMO AND SEE HOW TO TAKE CARE OF TEACHERS. IN IMO STATE EDUCATION IS NO ONE. IMO TEACHERS RECIEVES THEIR PAY BEFORE ANY FEDERAL WORKER. ROCHAS IS D ONLY PERSON DAT CAN FIX NIGERIAS EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS