EDUCATION: BE SELF-INNOVATIVE AND SELF-RELIANT....NYSC MEMBER TELLS COLLEAGUES

GOV ELRUFAI

Poor pronunciation and spelling of words among students in Nigeria today, has prompted the design of a learning aid for Nigerian students.

A member of the National Youth Corp Service (NYSC), Christogonus Nnoromelem, serving in one of the rural communities in Kaduna state has designed what he calls the 44 phonemes; a learning aid to correct this trend among pupils in the country, especially in the local communities.

Nnoromelem is of the belief that one can gainfully self-employed after the mandatory service to their mother land if they look out for their God-given talent and this fact has been brought to the fore with many of the NYSC impacting positively on the lives of the people in the communities where they have served.

Unveiling the 44 phonemes which he has adopted in the teaching of his students, at the Modern Green Light Academy, Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru Local government area of Kaduna State, Nnoromelem disclosed that he designed the 44 phonemes to address the bad communications among the students Nigerian students irrespective of their levels, were guilty of the bad pronunciation hence the need to correct the trend holistically.

“I designed a phonemes chart which contains the 44 phonemes in English Language. And phonemes are distinct sounds in English language.”

“I developed the sound because of the communication problems we have in this locality, microcosm called Kasuwan Magani. It has been difficult for us here to communicate effectively with the students. So I conceived it as a solution to the communication problem in the area and so far, the students have been responding in their communication.”

“It’s not just the nursery, primary and the secondary students that are guilty of this but even the graduates pronounce words badly.”

“So I desired that by the end of this term, we would have produced students who will be able to communicate effectively without any problem,” the word innovator stated.

In barely two weeks into adopting the chart in the school, over 70% success been recorded with the students responding very fast in the way and manner they pronounce words.

“We intend to extend it from Kaduna to Nigeria as a whole. We have been drilling students on the sounds, on how to pronounce words well. As a Corp member and as part of our Community Development program, we still go to other communities, schools and extend this to them. Last week, we were at Tudun Mare Secondary school. So this is a stepping stone as we intend to extend it to other places.”

“What we intend to achieve at the end of the day is to groom a considerable number of the students at least 70 – 80% to communicate effectively,” he said.

Calling on government to include phonemes in the school curriculums, the Proprietor of the school, Mr. Vincent Okoro said it would be of great value as that would help the pupils and students to have a sound concrete educational foundation.

Speaking also at the event, the PTA Chairman; Dimka Bahago who expressed his delight with the development, said he saw a bright future ahead of the children as he saw future leaders and governors among the children.

Chairman, Governing Board of the school, Mohammad Saadu while reading his speech, called on the government to assist the public and private schools with educational amenities to ensure the students are properly groomed.