The Ministry of Education is placing emphasis on the need for infant classes (Classes One to Three) to be conducted in vernacular languages.
Addressing teachers on Vanuabalavu island in the Lau group, Minister for Education Mr Filipe Bole relayed the importance of conducted classes in the first language for children and in the first three to four years of their education.
“When children are taught in their own mother tongue, they understand the concepts better. After they have accumulated enough english vocabulary, children will be able to communicate these concepts back even in English language, which is the children’s second language,” the minister said.
“Teachers must not rush to teach English language at infant level.”
The minister’s comments came after some primary schools visited were found to have made English a compulsory subject for students.
However, all children will have some fluency in reading skills at Class Four level even in reading in English.
Children of Adi Maopa Primary School in Lomaloma, Vanuabalavu.
Source Min of Education.