Episode 35 · Season IV · S4.E1 · Oct 21, 2026 · 14:38

The Language in the Room: Who Decides What a Child Learns In (S4 E1)

In January 1970, the University of Ife in Nigeria began teaching a group of primary children in Yoruba for all six years of school, with English as a subject. In 2022, Nigeria made home-language instruction national policy for the early grades. In November 2025, the next government cancelled it and restored English, citing exam results. The Nigerian Academy of Education said the evidence showed the opposite. This episode follows that decision around the world. UNESCO estimates that about forty percent of the world's people are not taught in a language they understand well. Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Kenya answered the question three different ways. Brazil, Morocco, Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Aotearoa New Zealand wrote a people, or a language, into the lesson, and found that a law takes a year and teachers take a generation. In the United States the question was answered in court, in Lau v. Nichols, 1974, unanimously. The episode closes with the season's recurring question: would it take root?

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In this episode
  1. 00:00Ife, January 1970
  2. 01:04Where this episode sits
  3. 01:44Part one: the size of the decision
  4. 03:36What the research says
  5. 04:29Part two: the lesson as recognition
  6. 06:58Part three: who benefits
  7. 09:50Part four: Nigeria, 2022 to 2025
  8. 11:47Would it take root?
  9. 13:10Do this this week, and next week
  10. 13:51Close
“A single official language of instruction looks neutral. It costs nothing for the children who already speak it at home, and it costs years for the ones who do not.
References (5)
  1. 01Dubeck, M. M., Jukes, M. C. H., & Okello, G. (2012). Early primary literacy instruction in Kenya · Comparative Education Review, 56(1), 48–68.
  2. 02Lau v. Nichols (1974). 414 U.S. 563 · Supreme Court of the United States.
  3. 03Piper, B., Zuilkowski, S. S., & Ong'ele, S. (2016). Implementing mother tongue instruction in the real world: Results from a medium-scale randomized controlled trial in Kenya · Comparative Education Review, 60(4).
  4. 04Sánchez, G. I. (1940). Forgotten People: A Study of New Mexicans · University of New Mexico Press.
  5. 05UNESCO (2025). Languages in education · unesco.org/en/languages-education.
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S4 · E1The Language in the Room: Who Decides What a Child Learns In (S4 E1)
0:00 · 14:38