Parents have been called upon to teach their children and wards how to speak local languages so as to sustain such languages and not allow them go into extinction.

Delta State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chief Patrick Ukah, gave this charge when members of Enuani Advancement Forum paid him a courtesy visit in Okpanam on Saturday.

He bemoaned the situation where present day children cannot speak their local languages putting the blame squarely on parents who do not teach their children local languages.

Chief Ukah therefore appealed to parents “to teach their children local languages with the same determination which they use to teach them English language so the children can speak the two languages.”

The Basic and Secondary Education Commissioner decried the situation where parents “cannot communicate with their children in local languages in the presence of a visitor who the parents might not want to understand their discussion.”

He urged members of the group to develop an action plan on how they want to achieve their purpose, promising to intervene to ensure that the ugly trend is reversed.

The Chairman of Enuani Advancement Forum, Rev. Fr. Anthony Banye, in an address, stated that the group wants Enuani language to not just be a spoken language but also a written language that children from Enuani area can study and grow in.

In the address read on his behalf by Mrs. Christie Akako, the chairman noted that people find a sense of pride when they see their own language measuring up with other languages in terms of modern usage so will naturally prefer their own language to others.

•Photo shows Delta State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chief Patrick Ukah, presenting a gift to Mrs. Christie Akako of Enuani Advancement Forum when the group paid him a courtesy visit in Okpanam on Saturday

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