For many of us, home is more than just a building — it is a
rhythm, a familiar sound, a first language. When the outside world becomes
noisy or confusing, home remains the voice that still makes sense. Among the
Yorùbá and many African cultures, home lives in the language we first spoke.
That language holds our earliest lessons, our stories, our wisdom, and our
prayers.
But today, across classrooms in South-West Nigeria and
elsewhere, children are told to set that voice aside. Yorùbá, the language of
home, is often replaced by English — even at the start of schooling. Even
worse, many grow up silently believing that smartness is tied to speaking a
language that is not their own.
We know that is not true. And we have the data to show it.
When Home Became the Curriculum: Fafunwa’s Yorùbá-Language Education Project
From 1970 to 1978, Nigerian educator and former Minister of
Education, Professor Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa, led a bold experiment in Osun
State. In the Ife Six-Year Primary Project, students learned entirely in Yorùbá
(except for English, taught separately). Over six years, these students did
more than just keep up — they performed better than peers in every subject,
even in English.
Fafunwa and his team created over 183 textbooks, trained
teachers, and wrote a full curriculum in Yorùbá for science, math, health, and
cultural studies. His work proved what educators now agree on globally:
children learn best in the language they first understand.
Fafunwa said it clearly: “If a Nigerian child is to develop
curiosity, creativity, and manual dexterity, he should acquire those skills through
the mother tongue, which is the most natural way of learning.”
His project worked — but today, our education system has not
carried that success forward. In many Nigerian schools, especially public ones,
Yorùbá and other native languages are no longer the foundation. That silence
keeps growing.
My Research: Taking the Mother Tongue Digital
I am working on research using Artificial Intelligence (AI)
to build Text-to-Speech (TTS) and Speech-to-Text (STT) systems in Yorùbá. I aim
to collect high-quality language data, create AI models that speak and
understand Yorùbá, and use them to design digital learning tools — especially
for kids.
This is more than convenience. It is about dignity,
identity, and access. I want to make sure machines can speak to us in Yorùbá,
not just in English.
Picture a learning app for young children that speaks
Yorùbá.
Picture a voice assistant helping a child practice how to
say words.
Picture Yorùbá folktales being read aloud with the right
tone and flow.
Picture saving rare dialects before they vanish.
This research is not just for Yorùbá speakers. It could
offer a roadmap for other African languages with few digital tools.
Home as a Springboard for Innovation
There is a deep contradiction in Africa’s development story:
we often overlook what makes us special. Our languages, stories, and knowledge
systems are rarely part of the digital future. But why should a smart speaker
in Lagos not speak Yorùbá? Why must digital tools be built only for English?
We need to begin where we are strongest — at home. Just like
children thrive when they learn in their first language, Africa must root
innovation in its own languages and culture.
AI gives us the power to make our languages visible again —
to hear them, speak them, and build with them. But we must take action —
collecting data, building models, and designing systems that reflect who we
are.
A Call to Bring Back the Voice of Home
When a French child speaks French, no one blinks. But when a
Yorùbá child struggles in English but speaks perfect Yorùbá, we sometimes feel
embarrassed. This has to change.
Language is more than communication — it is home. It is
where we begin.
Let us carry Fafunwa’s vision forward, so no child has to
choose between learning and belonging. With AI, we can teach and learn in the
language that gave us our first sense of meaning.
If you care about using technology or education to keep African languages alive, I invite you to connect, support, or follow this path. Let us create systems where our children feel at home — even in a digital world.
Source: Medium
